strickevsstrikesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,867
“stricke” frequency rank
#47,030
“strikes” frequency rank
87897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stricke strikes
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stricken 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs strike

Letter map: stricke vs strikes

Shared letters muted; letters that set stricke and strikes apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. stricke (CCCVCCV) and strikes (CCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
stricke
7 ch
strikes

Corpus notes: stricke and strikes

stricke and strikes are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stricke is recorded at frequency rank #40,867, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɪkə]. strikes is at rank #47,030, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 87897, this pair ranks #74,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of stricke vs strikes

Shared letters: eikrst. Private to "stricke": c. Private to "strikes": -.

"stricke" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "strikes" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stricke ← srticke · sstricke · stircke · strcike · striccke · stricek · strickke · strikce
  • strikes ← srtikes · sstrikes · stirkes · strikess · strikkes · strikse · strkies · strrikes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stricke" and "strikes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "stricke" or "strikes" show up more?
"stricke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,867 in our German list, against #47,030 for "strikes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "stricke" and "strikes". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stricke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strikes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stricke" and "strikes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs strikes". 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 #74,745 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