KäfigvsKönigTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,344
“Käfig” frequency rank
#816
“König” frequency rank
15160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Käfig König
Definition Behälter oder Einrichtung, um Lebewesen gefangen zu halten, häufig mit einem Gitter versehen höchster oder historisch hoher (nach dem Kaiser) monarchischer Würdenträger eines Staates, eines Königreiches; Namensbestandteil von Titelbezeichnungen

Where the eye mixes Käfig and König

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Käfig and König follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Käfig
5 ch
König

Look-alike desk: Käfig vs König

A purely visual mix-up. Käfig ([ˈkɛːfɪç]) and König ([ˈkøːnɪç]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Käfig is recorded at frequency rank #14,344, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛːfɪç]. König is at rank #816, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪç].

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 15160, this pair ranks #1,945,958 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Käfig vs König

Shared letters: gik. Private to "Käfig": fä. Private to "König": nö.

"Käfig" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "König" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Käfig" and "König" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɛːfɪç] versus [ˈkøːnɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Käfig" or "König" show up more?
"König" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #816 in our German list, against #14,344 for "Käfig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Käfig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "König" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,945,958 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Käfig" and "König" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Käfig vs kantig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,945,958 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