KaffeevsKaffeesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,230
“Kaffee” frequency rank
#48,263
“Kaffees” frequency rank
49493
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kaffee Kaffees
Definition anregendes schwarzes Aufgussgetränk Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kaffee

Where the eye mixes Kaffee and Kaffees

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Kaffee
7 ch
Kaffees

Look-alike desk: Kaffee vs Kaffees

A purely visual mix-up. Kaffee ([ˈkafe]) and Kaffees ([kaˈfeːs]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Kaffee” sits inside “Kaffees”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kaffee is recorded at frequency rank #1,230, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkafe]. Kaffees is at rank #48,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈfeːs].

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 49493, this pair ranks #1,209,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kaffee vs Kaffees

Shared letters: aefk. Private to "Kaffee": -. Private to "Kaffees": s.

"Kaffee" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "Kaffees" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kaffeeakffee · kafee · kafefe · kfafee · kkaffee
  • Kaffeesakffees · kafees · kafefes · kaffeess · kaffes · kaffese · kfafees · kkaffees

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kaffee" for "Kaffees" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkafe] versus [kaˈfeːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kaffee" or "Kaffees" show up more?
"Kaffee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,230 in our German list, against #48,263 for "Kaffees". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kaffee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kaffees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,209,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kaffee" and "Kaffees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kaffees vs Käufers". 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 #1,209,453 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