stank

[ʃtaŋk]

/[ʃtaŋk]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“stank” is an uncommon German word, ranked #61,952 in German word frequency and used as a verb.

#61,952
frequency rank, German
5
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stinken

Key facts for stank
PropertyValue
Headwordstank
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ʃtaŋk]
Letters5
Frequency rank#61,952
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “stank” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). stank lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for stank is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʃtaŋk]. Corpus data places it at rank #61,952 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

stank has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

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. The correct German form is stank, spelled S-T-A-N-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stinken
  2. 2
    3. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stinken

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 "stank"?
"stank" is spelled S-T-A-N-K. The IPA pronunciation is [ʃtaŋk].
What does "stank" mean?
As a verb, "stank" means: 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stinken
How do you pronounce "stank"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stank" is [ʃtaŋk]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "stank" come from?
"stank" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “stank”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is S-T-A-N-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ʃtaŋk] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list