SenkevsSündeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,265
“Senke” frequency rank
#7,996
“Sünde” frequency rank
40261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Senke Sünde
Definition flache Vertiefung im Boden Übertretung eines religiösen Gebotes oder Verbotes

Where the eye mixes Senke and Sünde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Senke and Sünde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Senke
5 ch
Sünde

Why the eye confuses Senke with Sünde

A purely visual mix-up. Senke ([ˈzɛŋkə]) and Sünde ([ˈzʏndə]) 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 40261, 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]. Sünde is at rank #7,996, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzʏndə].

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 40261, this pair ranks #1,513,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Senke vs Sünde

Shared letters: ens. Private to "Senke": k. Private to "Sünde": dü.

"Senke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Sünde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Senke ← esnke · sekne · senek · senkke · sennke · sneke · ssenke

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Senke" and "Sünde" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛŋkə] versus [ˈzʏndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Senke" or "Sünde"?
"Sünde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,996 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 "Senke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sünde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,513,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Senke" and "Sünde" 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 #1,513,572 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