kackenvskickenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,624
“kacken” frequency rank
#28,270
“kicken” frequency rank
45894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kacken kicken
Definition seinen Darm entleeren etwas oder jemanden treten

Where the eye mixes kacken and kicken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
kacken
6 ch
kicken

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. kacken ([ˈkakn̩]) and kicken ([ˈkɪkn̩]) 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 a single letter - a in “kacken” becomes i in “kicken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45894, 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]. kicken is at rank #28,270, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɪkn̩].

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 45894, this pair ranks #1,337,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kacken vs kicken

Shared letters: cekn. Private to "kacken": a. Private to "kicken": i.

"kacken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kicken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kackenakcken · kaccken · kacekn · kackenn · kackken · kackne · kakcen · kcaken
  • kickenikcken · kciken · kiccken · kicekn · kickenn · kickken · kickne · kikcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kacken" and "kicken" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkakn̩] versus [ˈkɪkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kacken" or "kicken"?
"kacken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,624 in our German list, against #28,270 for "kicken". 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 "kicken". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kacken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kicken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,337,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kacken" and "kicken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kicken vs kucken". 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