kacvsKrachWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“kac” and “Krach” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,278
“kac” frequency rank
#16,476
“Krach” frequency rank
59754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kac Krach
Definition körperliches Unwoholsein nach übermäßigem Alkoholkonsum; Kater, Katzenjammer, Katerstimmung, Hangover, Hang-over ohne Plural: sehr lautes, unangenehmes Geräusch; plötzliches, hartes, sehr lautes Geräusch

Where the eye mixes kac and Krach

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kac runs 3 letters (CVC) against Krach's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
kac
5 ch
Krach

Why the eye confuses kac with Krach

A purely visual mix-up. kac ([kat͡s]) and Krach ([kʁax]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59754, 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]. Krach is at rank #16,476, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁax].

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 59754, this pair ranks #812,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kac vs Krach

Shared letters: ack. Private to "kac": -. Private to "Krach": hr.

"kac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Krach" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Krach ← karch · kkrach · kracch · krachh · krahc · krcah · krrach · rkach

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kac" for "Krach" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kat͡s] versus [kʁax]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kac" or "Krach" show up more?
"Krach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,476 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.

Useful next steps

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 "Krach" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #812,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kac" and "Krach" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kac vs KGaA". 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 #812,622 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