PinkevsPinkenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#44,131
“Pinke” frequency rank
#44,133
“Pinken” frequency rank
88264
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes Pinke and Pinken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Pinke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Pinken's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Pinke
6 ch
Pinken

Look-alike desk: Pinke vs Pinken

A purely visual mix-up. Pinke ([ˈpɪŋkə]) and Pinken ([ˈpɪŋkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Pinke” sits inside “Pinken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pinke is recorded at frequency rank #44,131, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪŋkə]. Pinken is at rank #44,133, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪŋkn̩].

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 88264, this pair ranks #70,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Pinke vs Pinken

Shared letters: eiknp. Private to "Pinke": -. Private to "Pinken": -.

"Pinke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Pinken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pinkeipnke · pikne · pinek · pinkke · pinnke · pnike · ppinke
  • Pinkenipnken · piknen · pinekn · pinkenn · pinkken · pinkne · pinnken · pniken

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pinke" for "Pinken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɪŋkə] versus [ˈpɪŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Pinke" or "Pinken" show up more?
"Pinke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,131 in our German list, against #44,133 for "Pinken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pinke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pinken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pinke" and "Pinken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pinken vs Planken". 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 #70,428 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