Which to use
“Tanke” is a noun and “tranken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,305
- “Tanke” frequency rank
- #28,425
- “tranken” frequency rank
- 60730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Tanke | tranken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tankstelle | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs trinken |
Where the eye mixes Tanke and tranken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Tanke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tranken's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Tanke vs tranken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tanke is [ˈtaŋkə] while tranken is [ˈtʁaŋkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60730, 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]. tranken is at rank #28,425, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁaŋkn̩].
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 60730, this pair ranks #776,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Tanke vs tranken
Shared letters: aeknt. Private to "Tanke": -. Private to "tranken": r.
"Tanke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tranken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Tanke" and "tranken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Tanke" or "tranken" show up more?
What to do next
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 "tranken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #776,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Tanke" and "tranken" 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 #776,098 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.