segnevsSenkeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#32,261
“segne” frequency rank
#32,265
“Senke” frequency rank
64526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature segne Senke
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs segnen flache Vertiefung im Boden

Where the eye mixes segne and Senke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. segne and Senke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
segne
5 ch
Senke

Visual trap between segne and Senke

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: segne is [ˈzeːɡnə] while Senke is [ˈzɛŋkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

segne is recorded at frequency rank #32,261, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzeːɡnə]. Senke is at rank #32,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkə].

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 64526, this pair ranks #638,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of segne vs Senke

Shared letters: ens. Private to "segne": g. Private to "Senke": k.

"segne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Senke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • segne ← esgne · seggne · segnne · senge · sgene · ssegne
  • Senke ← esnke · sekne · senek · senkke · sennke · sneke · ssenke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "segne" for "Senke" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "segne" is a verb and "Senke" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "segne" vs "Senke" - which ranks higher?
"segne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,261 in our German list, against #32,265 for "Senke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "segne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Senke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #638,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "segne" and "Senke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs segne". 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 #638,377 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