kaltvskittTell them apart

Quick tell: kalt is a adjective, kitt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kalt” is an adjective and “kitt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,306
“kalt” frequency rank
#42,619
“kitt” frequency rank
44925
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kalt kitt
Definition eine niedrige Temperatur habend; von/mit niedriger Temperatur; nicht (mehr) heiß 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kitten

Where the eye mixes kalt and kitt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kalt and kitt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
kalt
4 ch
kitt

Why the eye confuses kalt with kitt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kalt is [kalt] while kitt is [kɪt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kalt is recorded at frequency rank #2,306, classified as anadj, pronounced [kalt]. kitt is at rank #42,619, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɪt].

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 44925, this pair ranks #1,370,195 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kalt vs kitt

Shared letters: kt. Private to "kalt": al. Private to "kitt": i.

"kalt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kitt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kaltaklt · kallt · kaltt · katl · kkalt · klat
  • kittiktt · kkitt · ktit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kalt" for "kitt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kalt" is an adjective and "kitt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kalt" vs "kitt" - which ranks higher?
"kalt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,306 in our German list, against #42,619 for "kitt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kalt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kitt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,370,195 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kalt" and "kitt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kaut vs kitt". 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 #1,370,195 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