tankvsTöneTell them apart

Quick tell: tank is a verb, Töne is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tank” is a verb and “Töne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,463
“tank” frequency rank
#6,865
“Töne” frequency rank
15328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tank Töne
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tanken Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ton

Where the eye mixes tank and Töne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tank
4 ch
Töne

Look-alike desk: tank vs Töne

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tank is [taŋk] while Töne is [ˈtøːnə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tank is recorded at frequency rank #8,463, classified as averb, pronounced [taŋk]. Töne is at rank #6,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtøːnə].

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 15328, this pair ranks #1,944,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tank vs Töne

Shared letters: nt. Private to "tank": ak. Private to "Töne": .

"tank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Töne" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tankatnk · takn · tankk · tannk · tnak · ttank

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tank" and "Töne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tank" is a verb and "Töne" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tank" vs "Töne" - which ranks higher?
"Töne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,865 in our German list, against #8,463 for "tank". 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 "tank" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Töne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,944,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tank" and "Töne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tank vs tine". 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 #1,944,723 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