Orkan
[ɔʁˈkaːn]
The verdict
“Orkan” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #25,257 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #25,257
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - (durch ein außertropisches Tiefdruckgebiet entstandener) Sturm der zwölften Stufe der Beaufort-Skala; äußerst heftiger Sturm
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Orkan |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ɔʁˈkaːn] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #25,257 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Orkan” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Orkan is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɔʁˈkaːn]. Corpus data places it at rank #25,257 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "(durch ein außertropisches Tiefdruckgebiet entstandener) Sturm der zwölften Stufe der Beaufort-Skala; äußerst heftiger Sturm".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Orkan, with forms such as "orakn", "orkann", and "orkkan". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Orks", "Orten", "Oskar", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Orkan, spelled O-R-K-A-N.
Definition
- 1(durch ein außertropisches Tiefdruckgebiet entstandener) Sturm der zwölften Stufe der Beaufort-Skala; äußerst heftiger Sturm
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: orakn,orkann,orkkan,orkna,orrkan,rokan
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Orkan - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Orkan"?
What does "Orkan" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Orkan"?
How do you pronounce "Orkan"?
What language does "Orkan" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Orkan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is O-R-K-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ɔʁˈkaːn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Orks” - see the side-by-side comparison. Orkan vs Orks
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.