verdankenvsverlinkenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,117
“verdanken” frequency rank
#18,743
“verlinken” frequency rank
24860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdanken verlinken
Definition jemandem wegen etwas zu Dank verpflichtet sein einen Hyperlink (Verweis) setzen, über Hyperlinks verknüpfen

Where the eye mixes verdanken and verlinken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verdanken and verlinken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verdanken
9 ch
verlinken

Visual trap between verdanken and verlinken

A purely visual mix-up. verdanken ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]) and verlinken ([fɛɐ̯ˈlɪŋkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdanken is recorded at frequency rank #6,117, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]. verlinken is at rank #18,743, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlɪŋkn̩].

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 24860, this pair ranks #1,841,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verdanken vs verlinken

Shared letters: eknrv. Private to "verdanken": ad. Private to "verlinken": il.

"verdanken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verlinken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdanken ← evrdanken · vedranken · veradnken · verdaknen · verdanekn · verdankenn · verdankken · verdankne
  • verlinken ← evrlinken · velrinken · verilnken · verliknen · verlinekn · verlinkenn · verlinkken · verlinkne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verdanken" for "verlinken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈlɪŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verdanken" vs "verlinken" - which ranks higher?
"verdanken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,117 in our German list, against #18,743 for "verlinken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdanken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlinken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,841,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdanken" and "verlinken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlinken vs Verlinkung". 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 #1,841,602 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