Which to use
“kalten” is an adjective and “Kater” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,528
- “kalten” frequency rank
- #7,347
- “Kater” frequency rank
- 11875
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kalten | Kater |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs kalt | männliche Katze |
Where the eye mixes kalten and Kater
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kalten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Kater's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between kalten and Kater
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kalten is [ˈkaltn̩] while Kater is [ˈkaːtɐ]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kalten is recorded at frequency rank #4,528, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkaltn̩]. Kater is at rank #7,347, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaːtɐ].
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 11875, this pair ranks #1,967,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kalten vs Kater
Shared letters: aekt. Private to "kalten": ln. Private to "Kater": r.
"kalten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Kater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "kalten" and "Kater" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "kalten" or "Kater"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "kalten" and "Kater" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "kalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Kater" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,967,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kalten" and "Kater" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kater vs Kutter". 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 #1,967,434 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.