Which to use
“winken” and “wirkten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,881
- “winken” frequency rank
- #11,786
- “wirkten” frequency rank
- 28667
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | winken | wirkten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zur Begrüßung, zum Abschied oder, um Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen, mit der Hand in der Luft wedeln | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wirken |
Where the eye mixes winken and wirkten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. winken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against wirkten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses winken with wirkten
A purely visual mix-up. winken ([ˈvɪŋkn̩]) and wirkten ([ˈvɪʁktn̩]) 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 28667, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
winken is recorded at frequency rank #16,881, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪŋkn̩]. wirkten is at rank #11,786, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪʁktn̩].
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 28667, this pair ranks #1,780,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of winken vs wirkten
Shared letters: eiknw. Private to "winken": -. Private to "wirkten": rt.
"winken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wirkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "winken" and "wirkten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "winken" or "wirkten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "winken" and "wirkten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "winken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wirkten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,780,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "winken" and "wirkten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wickel vs winken". 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 #1,780,718 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.