Which to use
“senken” and “sinken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,879
- “senken” frequency rank
- #5,763
- “sinken” frequency rank
- 11642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | senken | sinken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in eine niedrigere Position bringen | untergehen |
Where the eye mixes senken and sinken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses senken with sinken
A purely visual mix-up. senken ([ˈzɛŋkn̩]) and sinken ([ˈzɪŋkn̩]) 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 a single letter - e in “senken” becomes i in “sinken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
senken is recorded at frequency rank #5,879, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkn̩]. sinken is at rank #5,763, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɪŋkn̩].
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 11642, this pair ranks #1,968,731 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of senken vs sinken
Shared letters: ekns. Private to "senken": -. Private to "sinken": i.
"senken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sinken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "senken" for "sinken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "senken" vs "sinken" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "senken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sinken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,968,731 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "senken" and "sinken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senken vs Sönke". 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 #1,968,731 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.