Which to use
“Sankt” is an adjective and “sinkt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,524
- “Sankt” frequency rank
- #5,649
- “sinkt” frequency rank
- 13173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Sankt | sinkt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | heilig | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sinken |
Where the eye mixes Sankt and sinkt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Sankt and sinkt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Sankt with sinkt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sankt is [zaŋkt] while sinkt is [zɪŋkt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Sankt” becomes i in “sinkt”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Sankt is recorded at frequency rank #7,524, classified as anadj, pronounced [zaŋkt]. sinkt is at rank #5,649, tagged as averb, pronounced [zɪŋkt].
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 13173, this pair ranks #1,959,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Sankt vs sinkt
Shared letters: knst. Private to "Sankt": a. Private to "sinkt": i.
"Sankt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "sinkt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Sankt" for "sinkt" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Sankt" or "sinkt"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Sankt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sinkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,959,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Sankt" and "sinkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs Sankt". 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 #1,959,664 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.