kam vs kau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#274
“kam” frequency rank: #41,934
“kau” frequency rank: 42208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	kam	kau
Definition	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kommen	2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kauen

Where the eye mixes kam and kau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

kam

3 ch

kau

Why the eye confuses kam with kau

A purely visual mix-up. kam ([kaːm]) and kau ([kaʊ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - m in “kam” becomes u in “kau”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kam is recorded at frequency rank #274, classified as averb, pronounced [kaːm]. kau is at rank #41,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaʊ̯].

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 42208, this pair ranks #1,456,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kam vs kau

Shared letters: ak. Private to "kam": m. Private to "kau": u.

"kam" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "kau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kam" and "kau" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently ([kaːm] versus [kaʊ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary German text, does "kam" or "kau" show up more?

"kam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #274 in our German list, against #41,934 for "kau". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "kam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "kau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,456,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"kam" and "kau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kau vs KGaA". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,456,368 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.