tränkevstrinkenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,338
“tränke” frequency rank
#1,492
“trinken” frequency rank
47830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tränke trinken
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tränken orale Aufnahme einer Flüssigkeit

Where the eye mixes tränke and trinken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tränke
7 ch
trinken

Why the eye confuses tränke with trinken

A purely visual mix-up. tränke ([ˈtʁɛŋkə]) and trinken ([ˈtʁɪŋkn̩]) 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 47830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tränke is recorded at frequency rank #46,338, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁɛŋkə]. trinken is at rank #1,492, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁɪŋkn̩].

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 47830, this pair ranks #1,270,439 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tränke vs trinken

Shared letters: eknrt. Private to "tränke": ä. Private to "trinken": i.

"tränke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "trinken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trinkenrtinken · tirnken · triknen · trinekn · trinkenn · trinkken · trinkne · trinnken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tränke" and "trinken" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtʁɛŋkə] versus [ˈtʁɪŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tränke" vs "trinken" - which ranks higher?
"trinken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,492 in our German list, against #46,338 for "tränke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tränke" and "trinken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tränke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trinken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,270,439 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tränke" and "trinken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Trainee 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 #1,270,439 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