talkvsthankWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,537
“talk” frequency rank
#25,346
“thank” frequency rank
32883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talk thank
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs talken sich für etwas erkenntlich zeigen

Where the eye mixes talk and thank

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
talk
5 ch
thank

Visual trap between talk and thank

A purely visual mix-up. talk ([tɔːk]) and thank ([θæŋk]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talk is recorded at frequency rank #7,537, classified as averb, pronounced [tɔːk]. thank is at rank #25,346, tagged as averb, pronounced [θæŋk].

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 32883, this pair ranks #1,697,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of talk vs thank

Shared letters: akt. Private to "talk": l. Private to "thank": hn.

"talk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "thank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • talkatlk · takl · talkk · tallk · tlak · ttalk
  • thankhtank · tahnk · thakn · thankk · thannk · thhank · thnak · tthank

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "talk" and "thank" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([tɔːk] versus [θæŋk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "talk" or "thank"?
"talk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,537 in our German list, against #25,346 for "thank". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "talk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "thank" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,697,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "talk" and "thank" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thank vs tränke". 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 #1,697,982 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