winkvswinkteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,970
“wink” frequency rank
#37,900
“winkte” frequency rank
60870
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wink winkte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs winken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs winken

Where the eye mixes wink and winkte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wink runs 4 letters (CVCC) against winkte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
wink
6 ch
winkte

Visual trap between wink and winkte

A purely visual mix-up. wink ([vɪŋk]) and winkte ([ˈvɪŋktə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “wink” sits inside “winkte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wink is recorded at frequency rank #22,970, classified as averb, pronounced [vɪŋk]. winkte is at rank #37,900, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪŋktə].

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 60870, this pair ranks #770,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wink vs winkte

Shared letters: iknw. Private to "wink": -. Private to "winkte": et.

"wink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "winkte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wink ← iwnk · wikn · winkk · winnk · wnik · wwink
  • winkte ← iwnkte · wiknte · winket · winkkte · winktte · winnkte · wintke · wnikte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wink" for "winkte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vɪŋk] versus [ˈvɪŋktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wink" vs "winkte" - which ranks higher?
"wink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,970 in our German list, against #37,900 for "winkte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "winkte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #770,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wink" and "winkte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs wink". 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 #770,834 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