campenvscampsTell them apart

Quick tell: campen is a verb, camps is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“campen” is a verb and “camps” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,660
“campen” frequency rank
#20,204
“camps” frequency rank
47864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature campen camps
Definition kampieren, seine Freizeit auf einem Zelt- bzw. Campingplatz verbringen Plural des Substantivs camp

Where the eye mixes campen and camps

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
campen
5 ch
camps

Visual trap between campen and camps

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: campen is [ˈkɛmpn̩] while camps is [kæmps]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

campen is recorded at frequency rank #27,660, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɛmpn̩]. camps is at rank #20,204, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kæmps].

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 47864, this pair ranks #1,269,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of campen vs camps

Shared letters: acmp. Private to "campen": en. Private to "camps": s.

"campen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "camps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • campenacmpen · camepn · cammpen · campenn · campne · camppen · capmen · ccampen
  • campsacmps · cammps · campps · campss · camsp · capms · ccamps · cmaps

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "campen" and "camps" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "campen" is a verb and "camps" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "campen" or "camps"?
"camps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,204 in our German list, against #27,660 for "campen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "campen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "camps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,269,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "campen" and "camps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "campe vs campen". 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 #1,269,237 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