Which to use
“sinkt” is a verb and “sonst” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,649
- “sinkt” frequency rank
- #334
- “sonst” frequency rank
- 5983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sinkt | sonst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sinken | für gewöhnlich, im allgemeinen, bei anderen Gelegenheiten, zu anderer Zeit als gerade jetzt |
Where the eye mixes sinkt and sonst
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sinkt and sonst follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: sinkt vs sonst
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sinkt is [zɪŋkt] while sonst is [zɔnst]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sinkt is recorded at frequency rank #5,649, classified as averb, pronounced [zɪŋkt]. sonst is at rank #334, tagged as anadv, pronounced [zɔnst].
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 5983, this pair ranks #1,993,086 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sinkt vs sonst
Shared letters: nst. Private to "sinkt": ik. Private to "sonst": o.
"sinkt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "sonst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sinkt" for "sonst" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sinkt" or "sonst" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sinkt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sonst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,993,086 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sinkt" and "sonst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sinkt 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 #1,993,086 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.