TankevstaskWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,305
“Tanke” frequency rank
#24,534
“task” frequency rank
56839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tanke task
Definition Tankstelle zu erledigende Arbeit; zugewiesener Auftrag; Problem, das man durch Anstrengung oder Nachdenken zu lösen versucht; Teil einer Übung oder Prüfungsarbeit: Aufgabe

Where the eye mixes Tanke and task

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

5 ch
Tanke
4 ch
task

Why the eye confuses Tanke with task

A purely visual mix-up. Tanke ([ˈtaŋkə]) and task ([tɑːsk]) 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 56839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tanke is recorded at frequency rank #32,305, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaŋkə]. task is at rank #24,534, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tɑːsk].

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 56839, this pair ranks #924,679 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tanke vs task

Shared letters: akt. Private to "Tanke": en. Private to "task": s.

"Tanke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "task" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tankeatnke · takne · tanek · tankke · tannke · tnake · ttanke
  • taskatsk · taks · taskk · tassk · tsak · ttask

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tanke" for "task" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtaŋkə] versus [tɑːsk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Tanke" or "task" show up more?
"task" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,534 in our German list, against #32,305 for "Tanke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tanke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "task" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #924,679 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tanke" and "task" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tanke 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 #924,679 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