spackenvsstockenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,829
“spacken” frequency rank
#23,326
“stocken” frequency rank
66155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spacken stocken
Definition spachen einen Fortgang, eine Bewegung anhalten

Where the eye mixes spacken and stocken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. spacken and stocken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
spacken
7 ch
stocken

Why the eye confuses spacken with stocken

A purely visual mix-up. spacken ([ˈʃpakn̩]) and stocken ([ˈʃtɔkn̩]) 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 66155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spacken is recorded at frequency rank #42,829, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpakn̩]. stocken is at rank #23,326, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɔkn̩].

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 66155, this pair ranks #582,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spacken vs stocken

Shared letters: cekns. Private to "spacken": ap. Private to "stocken": ot.

"spacken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "stocken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spacken ← psacken · sapcken · spaccken · spacekn · spackenn · spackken · spackne · spakcen
  • stocken ← sotcken · sstocken · stcoken · stoccken · stocekn · stockenn · stockken · stockne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "spacken" and "stocken" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpakn̩] versus [ˈʃtɔkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "spacken" or "stocken"?
"stocken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,326 in our German list, against #42,829 for "spacken". 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 "spacken" and "stocken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spacken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stocken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #582,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spacken" and "stocken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Säcken vs spacken". 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 #582,768 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