Which to use
“came” and “can” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,428
- “came” frequency rank
- #4,597
- “can” frequency rank
- 42025
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | came | can |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs come | zeigt die Fähigkeit an, etwas tun zu können; können |
Letter map: came vs can
Shared letters muted; letters that set came and can apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Pair insight - came / can
came and can are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
came is recorded at frequency rank #37,428, classified as averb, pronounced […]. can is at rank #4,597, tagged as averb, pronounced [kæn].
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 42025, this pair ranks #1,461,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of came vs can
Shared letters: ac. Private to "came": em. Private to "can": n.
"came" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "can" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- came ← acme · caem · camme · ccame · cmae
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "came" for "can" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "came" or "can" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "came" and "can".
- Full dictionary entry for "came" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "can" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,461,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "came" and "can" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "came 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 #1,461,872 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.