KahnvskrähtTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#14,600
“Kahn” frequency rank
#46,792
“kräht” frequency rank
61392
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kahn kräht
Definition kleines, ungedecktes Wasserfahrzeug mit flachem Boden, das in Flüssen, Binnen- und Hafengewässern eingesetzt werden kann 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs krähen

Where the eye mixes Kahn and kräht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Kahn runs 4 letters (CVCC) against kräht's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Kahn
5 ch
kräht

Look-alike desk: Kahn vs kräht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kahn is [kaːn] while kräht is [kʁɛːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kahn is recorded at frequency rank #14,600, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaːn]. kräht is at rank #46,792, tagged as averb, pronounced [kʁɛːt].

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 61392, this pair ranks #751,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kahn vs kräht

Shared letters: hk. Private to "Kahn": an. Private to "kräht": rtä.

"Kahn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kräht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kahn ← akhn · kahhn · kahnn · kanh · kkahn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kahn" and "kräht" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kahn" is a noun and "kräht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Kahn" or "kräht" show up more?
"Kahn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,600 in our German list, against #46,792 for "kräht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kahn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kräht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #751,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kahn" and "kräht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kräht vs krönt". 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 #751,572 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