kacvskamConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#43,278
“kac” frequency rank
#274
“kam” frequency rank
43552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kac kam
Definition körperliches Unwoholsein nach übermäßigem Alkoholkonsum; Kater, Katzenjammer, Katerstimmung, Hangover, Hang-over 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kommen

Where the eye mixes kac and kam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
kac
3 ch
kam

Look-alike desk: kac vs kam

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kac is [kat͡s] while kam is [kaːm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “kac” becomes m in “kam”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kac is recorded at frequency rank #43,278, classified as anoun, pronounced [kat͡s]. kam is at rank #274, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaːm].

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 43552, this pair ranks #1,414,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kac vs kam

Shared letters: ak. Private to "kac": c. Private to "kam": m.

"kac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "kam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kac" for "kam" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kac" is a noun and "kam" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kac" vs "kam" - which ranks higher?
"kam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #274 in our German list, against #43,278 for "kac". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "kac" and "kam" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,414,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kac" and "kam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kac vs KGaA". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,414,518 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