kacvskomTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#43,278
“kac” frequency rank
#26,482
“kom” frequency rank
69760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kac kom
Definition körperliches Unwoholsein nach übermäßigem Alkoholkonsum; Kater, Katzenjammer, Katerstimmung, Hangover, Hang-over Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs komme

Where the eye mixes kac and kom

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. kac and kom follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
kac
3 ch
kom

Look-alike desk: kac vs kom

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kac is [kat͡s] while kom is [ˈɡ̊ʰʌmˀ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69760, 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]. kom is at rank #26,482, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡ̊ʰʌmˀ].

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 69760, this pair ranks #466,761 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kac vs kom

Shared letters: k. Private to "kac": ac. Private to "kom": mo.

"kac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "kom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kac" for "kom" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kac" is a noun and "kom" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kac" or "kom"?
"kom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,482 in our German list, against #43,278 for "kac". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #466,761 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kac" and "kom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kac vs KGaA". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #466,761 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