calledvsopenConfusable pair

Quick tell: called is a verb, open is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“called” is a verb and “open” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,982
“called” frequency rank
#2,607
“open” frequency rank
35589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature called open
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs call etwas ist nicht geschlossen

Letter map: called vs open

Shared letters muted; letters that set called and open apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

6 ch
called
4 ch
open

Role in the sentence - called and open

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: called is averb and openanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

called is recorded at frequency rank #32,982, classified as averb, pronounced […]. open is at rank #2,607, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 35589, this pair ranks #1,636,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of called vs open

Shared letters: e. Private to "called": acdl. Private to "open": nop.

"called" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "open" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calledaclled · caled · caleld · callde · calledd · ccalled · claled
  • openoepn · openn · opne · oppen · poen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "called" and "open" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "called" is a verb and "open" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "called" or "open" show up more?
"open" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,607 in our German list, against #32,982 for "called". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "called" and "open".

  • Full dictionary entry for "called" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "open" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,636,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "called" and "open" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "called vs puzzles". 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 #1,636,360 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