Which to use
“Kanälen” is a noun and “kannten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,873
- “Kanälen” frequency rank
- #9,934
- “kannten” frequency rank
- 23807
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kanälen | kannten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kanal | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs kennen |
Where the eye mixes Kanälen and kannten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Kanälen (CVCVCVC) and kannten (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Kanälen vs kannten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kanälen is [kaˈnɛːlən] while kannten is [ˈkantn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Kanälen is recorded at frequency rank #13,873, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈnɛːlən]. kannten is at rank #9,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkantn̩].
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 23807, this pair ranks #1,856,370 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Kanälen vs kannten
Shared letters: aekn. Private to "Kanälen": lä. Private to "kannten": t.
"Kanälen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "kannten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kannten ← aknnten · kannetn · kanntenn · kanntne · kanntten · kantnen · kkannten · knanten
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Kanälen" for "kannten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Kanälen" or "kannten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Kanälen" and "kannten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Kanälen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,856,370 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Kanälen" and "kannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kannten vs konntet". 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 #1,856,370 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.