dunkel

/[ˈdʊŋkl̩]/ adj

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#3,030

in German word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

dunkel is anGermanadj. It means: ohne oder mit wenig Licht, lichtlos Pronounced [ˈdʊŋkl̩]. It ranks #3,030 in German word frequency. Often confused with dünne and dunkle.

Key facts for dunkel
PropertyValue
Headworddunkel
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdj
IPA[ˈdʊŋkl̩]
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,030
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of dunkel in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for dunkel is 6 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈdʊŋkl̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #3,030 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for dunkel, with forms such as "ddunkel", "dnukel", and "duknel". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dünne", "dunkle", "dünnen", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is dunkel, spelled D-U-N-K-E-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    ohne oder mit wenig Licht, lichtlos
  2. 2
    im Farbton mehr oder weniger kräftig
  3. 3
    tief tönend
  4. 4
    unbestimmt, ungewiss
  5. 5
    unklar, nicht vollständig verständlich, ersichtlich
  6. 6
    verdächtig, zwielichtig
  7. 7
    düster, unerfreulich, trostlos
  8. 8
    phonetisches Merkmal der hinteren Vokale

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddunkel,dnukel,duknel,dunekl,dunkell,dunkkel,dunnkel,udnkel

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for dunkel

Misspelling Variants of "dunkel"

ddunkel7dnukel6duknel6dunekl6dunkell7dunkkel7dunnkel7udnkel6
Misspelling Variants of "dunkel"

Frequency rank: #3,030 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dunkel"?
"dunkel" is spelled D-U-N-K-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈdʊŋkl̩].
What does "dunkel" mean?
As an adj, "dunkel" means: ohne oder mit wenig Licht, lichtlos
What words are commonly confused with "dunkel"?
"dunkel" is commonly confused with "dünne", "dunkle", "dünnen". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dunkel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dunkel" is [ˈdʊŋkl̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dunkel" come from?
"dunkel" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.