sandsvssankWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,562
“sands” frequency rank
#8,128
“sank” frequency rank
53690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sands sank
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sand 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sinken

Letter map: sands vs sank

Shared letters muted; letters that set sands and sank apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
sands
4 ch
sank

Spelling & dictionary notes on sands vs sank

sands and sank are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sands is recorded at frequency rank #45,562, classified as averb, pronounced […]. 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 53690, this pair ranks #1,048,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sands vs sank

Shared letters: ans. Private to "sands": d. Private to "sank": k.

"sands" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "sank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sandsasnds · sadns · sandds · sandss · sannds · sansd · snads · ssands
  • sankasnk · sakn · sankk · sannk · snak · ssank

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sands" and "sank" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "sands" or "sank"?
"sank" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,128 in our German list, against #45,562 for "sands". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sands" and "sank".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sands" 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 #1,048,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sands" and "sank" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sands". 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 #1,048,215 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