kam vs ke, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#274
“kam” frequency rank: #20,973
“ke” frequency rank: 21247
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	kam	ke
Definition	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kommen	2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ Nichtadmirativ Aktiv zum Verb kam

Letter map: kam vs ke

Shared letters muted; letters that set kam and ke apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

kam

2 ch

Pair insight - kam / ke

kam and ke are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kam is recorded at frequency rank #274, classified as averb, pronounced [kaːm]. ke is at rank #20,973, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 21247, this pair ranks #1,888,549 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kam vs ke

Shared letters: k. Private to "kam": am. Private to "ke": e.

"kam" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ke" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Frequency check: "kam" vs "ke" - which ranks higher?

"kam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #274 in our German list, against #20,973 for "ke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "kam" and "ke". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "kam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,888,549 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"kam" and "ke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ke vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,888,549 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.