kanntevsKärntenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kannte is a verb, Kärnten is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kannte” is a verb and “Kärnten” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,899
“kannte” frequency rank
#6,556
“Kärnten” frequency rank
9455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kannte Kärnten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kennen ein Bundesland der Republik Österreich

Where the eye mixes kannte and Kärnten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kannte runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against Kärnten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kannte
7 ch
Kärnten

Look-alike desk: kannte vs Kärnten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kannte is [ˈkantə] while Kärnten is [ˈkɛʁntn̩]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kannte is recorded at frequency rank #2,899, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkantə]. Kärnten is at rank #6,556, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈkɛʁntn̩].

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 9455, this pair ranks #1,979,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kannte vs Kärnten

Shared letters: eknt. Private to "kannte": a. Private to "Kärnten": .

"kannte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Kärnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kannteaknnte · kannet · kanntte · kantne · kkannte · knante

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kannte" for "Kärnten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kannte" is a verb and "Kärnten" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kannte" or "Kärnten"?
"kannte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,899 in our German list, against #6,556 for "Kärnten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kärnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,979,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kannte" and "Kärnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kärnten vs Kartei". 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 #1,979,871 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