capsvsClausWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: caps is a verb, Claus is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caps” is a verb and “Claus” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,665
“caps” frequency rank
#7,449
“Claus” frequency rank
32114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caps Claus
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs cap männlicher Vorname

Letter map: caps vs Claus

Shared letters muted; letters that set caps and Claus apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
caps
5 ch
Claus

Role in the sentence - caps and Claus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: caps is averb and Clausaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caps is recorded at frequency rank #24,665, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Claus is at rank #7,449, tagged as aname, pronounced [klaʊ̯s].

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 32114, this pair ranks #1,714,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caps vs Claus

Shared letters: acs. Private to "caps": p. Private to "Claus": lu.

"caps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Claus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capsacps · capps · capss · casp · ccaps · cpas
  • Clauscalus · cclaus · clasu · clauss · cllaus · cluas · lcaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caps" and "Claus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caps" is a verb and "Claus" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "caps" or "Claus" show up more?
"Claus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,449 in our German list, against #24,665 for "caps". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "caps" vs "Claus" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Claus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,714,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caps" and "Claus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caps 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 #1,714,418 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