RankvsRockConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,874
“Rank” frequency rank
#2,217
“Rock” frequency rank
37091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rank Rock
Definition Intrigen, Listen, Machenschaften unten offenes Kleidungsstück, das den Unterleib und (wenigstens teilweise) die Beine bedeckt (meist für Frauen)

Where the eye mixes Rank and Rock

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Rank
4 ch
Rock

Look-alike desk: Rank vs Rock

A purely visual mix-up. Rank ([ʁaŋk]) and Rock ([ʁɔk]) 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 37091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rank is recorded at frequency rank #34,874, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaŋk]. Rock is at rank #2,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁɔk].

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 37091, this pair ranks #1,599,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Rank vs Rock

Shared letters: kr. Private to "Rank": an. Private to "Rock": co.

"Rank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Rock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rankarnk · rakn · rankk · rannk · rnak · rrank
  • Rockorck · rcok · rocck · rockk · rokc · rrock

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rank" for "Rock" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaŋk] versus [ʁɔk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Rank" or "Rock" show up more?
"Rock" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,217 in our German list, against #34,874 for "Rank". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rank" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rock" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,599,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rank" and "Rock" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs Rank". 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 #1,599,035 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