SahnevssankConfusable pair

Quick tell: Sahne is a noun, sank is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sahne” is a noun and “sank” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,083
“Sahne” frequency rank
#8,128
“sank” frequency rank
17211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sahne sank
Definition fettreicher Teil der Milch, der beim Stehenlassen eine obere Phase bildet 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sinken

Where the eye mixes Sahne and sank

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Sahne
4 ch
sank

Visual trap between Sahne and sank

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sahne is [ˈzaːnə] while sank is [zaŋk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sahne is recorded at frequency rank #9,083, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːnə]. sank is at rank #8,128, tagged as averb, pronounced [zaŋk].

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 17211, this pair ranks #1,929,387 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sahne vs sank

Shared letters: ans. Private to "Sahne": eh. Private to "sank": k.

"Sahne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sahneashne · sahhne · sahnne · sanhe · shane · ssahne
  • sankasnk · sakn · sankk · sannk · snak · ssank

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sahne" and "sank" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sahne" is a noun and "sank" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Sahne" vs "sank" - which ranks higher?
"sank" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,128 in our German list, against #9,083 for "Sahne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sahne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sank" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929,387 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sahne" and "sank" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sahne vs Sake". 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 #1,929,387 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