KaffeevsKäuferWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,230
“Kaffee” frequency rank
#5,197
“Käufer” frequency rank
6427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kaffee Käufer
Definition anregendes schwarzes Aufgussgetränk jemand, der gegen Bezahlung etwas in Besitz nimmt, etwas kauft

Where the eye mixes Kaffee and Käufer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Kaffee
6 ch
Käufer

Look-alike desk: Kaffee vs Käufer

A purely visual mix-up. Kaffee ([ˈkafe]) and Käufer ([ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6427, 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]. Käufer is at rank #5,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ].

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 6427, this pair ranks #1,991,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kaffee vs Käufer

Shared letters: efk. Private to "Kaffee": a. Private to "Käufer": ruä.

"Kaffee" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "Käufer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kaffeeakffee · kafee · kafefe · kfafee · kkaffee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kaffee" for "Käufer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkafe] versus [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kaffee" or "Käufer" show up more?
"Kaffee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,230 in our German list, against #5,197 for "Käufer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Kaffee" and "Käufer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kaffee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Käufer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kaffee" and "Käufer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Käufer 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 #1,991,675 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