KaffvskämeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,005
“Kaff” frequency rank
#4,629
“käme” frequency rank
28634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kaff käme
Definition kleine, abgelegene, unbedeutende Ortschaft 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kommen

Where the eye mixes Kaff and käme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
Kaff
4 ch
käme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kaff is [kaf] while käme is [ˈkɛːmə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 28634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kaff is recorded at frequency rank #24,005, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaf]. käme is at rank #4,629, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɛːmə].

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 28634, this pair ranks #1,781,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kaff vs käme

Shared letters: k. Private to "Kaff": af. Private to "käme": emä.

"Kaff" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "käme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kaffakff · kaf · kfaf · kkaff

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kaff" and "käme" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kaff" is a noun and "käme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kaff" or "käme"?
"käme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,629 in our German list, against #24,005 for "Kaff". 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 "Kaff" and "käme". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kaff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "käme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,781,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kaff" and "käme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kaff vs kniff". 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