kacvskautWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#43,278
“kac” frequency rank
#46,771
“kaut” frequency rank
90049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kac kaut
Definition körperliches Unwoholsein nach übermäßigem Alkoholkonsum; Kater, Katzenjammer, Katerstimmung, Hangover, Hang-over 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kauen

Where the eye mixes kac and kaut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kac runs 3 letters (CVC) against kaut's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
kac
4 ch
kaut

Why the eye confuses kac with kaut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kac is [kat͡s] while kaut is [kaʊ̯t]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90049, 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]. kaut is at rank #46,771, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaʊ̯t].

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 90049, this pair ranks #50,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kac vs kaut

Shared letters: ak. Private to "kac": c. Private to "kaut": tu.

"kac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "kaut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kaut ← katu · kautt · kkaut · kuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kac" and "kaut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kac" is a noun and "kaut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kac" or "kaut"?
"kac" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,278 in our German list, against #46,771 for "kaut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kaut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kac" and "kaut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kaut vs kräht". 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 #50,961 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