Which to use
“taken” is an adjective and “Tanke” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,860
- “taken” frequency rank
- #32,305
- “Tanke” frequency rank
- 75165
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | taken | Tanke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak | Tankstelle |
Where the eye mixes taken and Tanke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. taken (CVCVC) and Tanke (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: taken vs Tanke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taken is [ˈtakn̩] while Tanke is [ˈtaŋkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
taken is recorded at frequency rank #42,860, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakn̩]. Tanke is at rank #32,305, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaŋkə].
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 75165, this pair ranks #314,847 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of taken vs Tanke
Shared letters: aeknt. Private to "taken": -. Private to "Tanke": -.
"taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Tanke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "taken" and "Tanke" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "taken" or "Tanke" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "taken" and "Tanke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "taken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Tanke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,847 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "taken" and "Tanke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taken vs taking". 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 #314,847 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.