SenkevsSinneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,265
“Senke” frequency rank
#1,122
“Sinne” frequency rank
33387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Senke Sinne
Definition flache Vertiefung im Boden Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Sinn

Where the eye mixes Senke and Sinne

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

5 ch
Senke
5 ch
Sinne

Visual trap between Senke and Sinne

A purely visual mix-up. Senke ([ˈzɛŋkə]) and Sinne ([ˈzɪnə]) 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 33387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Senke is recorded at frequency rank #32,265, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkə]. Sinne is at rank #1,122, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɪnə].

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 33387, this pair ranks #1,687,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Senke vs Sinne

Shared letters: ens. Private to "Senke": k. Private to "Sinne": i.

"Senke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Sinne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Senkeesnke · sekne · senek · senkke · sennke · sneke · ssenke
  • Sinneisnne · sine · sinen · snine · ssinne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Senke" for "Sinne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛŋkə] versus [ˈzɪnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Senke" vs "Sinne" - which ranks higher?
"Sinne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,122 in our German list, against #32,265 for "Senke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Senke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sinne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,687,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Senke" and "Sinne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs Senke". 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 #1,687,039 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