SenkevsSpendeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,265
“Senke” frequency rank
#6,472
“Spende” frequency rank
38737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Senke Spende
Definition flache Vertiefung im Boden eine freiwillige, unentgeltliche Gabe für einen wohltätigen Zweck in Form von Geld, Sach- oder Dienstleistungen

Where the eye mixes Senke and Spende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Senke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Spende's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Senke
6 ch
Spende

Visual trap between Senke and Spende

A purely visual mix-up. Senke ([ˈzɛŋkə]) and Spende ([ˈʃpɛndə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38737, 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]. Spende is at rank #6,472, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɛndə].

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 38737, this pair ranks #1,555,941 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Senke vs Spende

Shared letters: ens. Private to "Senke": k. Private to "Spende": dp.

"Senke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Spende" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Senke ← esnke · sekne · senek · senkke · sennke · sneke · ssenke
  • Spende ← psende · sepnde · spedne · spendde · spened · spennde · spnede · sppende

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Senke" for "Spende" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛŋkə] versus [ˈʃpɛndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Senke" vs "Spende" - which ranks higher?
"Spende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,472 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

Eye-level mix-up between "Senke" and "Spende" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Senke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,555,941 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Senke" and "Spende" 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 #1,555,941 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