PencevsPinkeTell them apart

Which to use

“Pence” and “Pinke” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,731
“Pence” frequency rank
#44,131
“Pinke” frequency rank
73862
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pence Pinke
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Penny Segelschiff im Küstenmeer der Nord- und Ostsee

Where the eye mixes Pence and Pinke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Pence and Pinke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Pence
5 ch
Pinke

Why the eye confuses Pence with Pinke

A purely visual mix-up. Pence ([ˈpɛns]) and Pinke ([ˈpɪŋkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pence is recorded at frequency rank #29,731, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɛns]. Pinke is at rank #44,131, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪŋkə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 73862, this pair ranks #348,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Pence vs Pinke

Shared letters: enp. Private to "Pence": c. Private to "Pinke": ik.

"Pence" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Pinke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pence ← epnce · pecne · pencce · penec · pennce · pnece · ppence
  • Pinke ← ipnke · pikne · pinek · pinkke · pinnke · pnike · ppinke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pence" and "Pinke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɛns] versus [ˈpɪŋkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pence" vs "Pinke" - which ranks higher?
"Pence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,731 in our German list, against #44,131 for "Pinke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Pence" and "Pinke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pinke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pence" and "Pinke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picken vs Pinke". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #348,932 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list