kackenvskauenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,624
“kacken” frequency rank
#22,394
“kauen” frequency rank
40018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kacken kauen
Definition seinen Darm entleeren Nahrung mit den Zähnen, durch wiederholtes Öffnen und Schließen der Kiefer, zerkleinern

Where the eye mixes kacken and kauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
kacken
5 ch
kauen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. kacken ([ˈkakn̩]) and kauen ([ˈkaʊ̯ən]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kacken is recorded at frequency rank #17,624, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkakn̩]. kauen is at rank #22,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʊ̯ən].

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 40018, this pair ranks #1,520,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kacken vs kauen

Shared letters: aekn. Private to "kacken": c. Private to "kauen": u.

"kacken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kauen" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kackenakcken · kaccken · kacekn · kackenn · kackken · kackne · kakcen · kcaken
  • kauenakuen · kaeun · kauenn · kaune · kkauen · kuaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kacken" and "kauen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkakn̩] versus [ˈkaʊ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kacken" or "kauen"?
"kacken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,624 in our German list, against #22,394 for "kauen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "kacken" and "kauen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kacken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,520,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kacken" and "kauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kauen vs kaut". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list