kapiervsKariesConfusable pair

Quick tell: kapier is a verb, Karies is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kapier” is a verb and “Karies” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,002
“kapier” frequency rank
#39,460
“Karies” frequency rank
83462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kapier Karies
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kapieren Erkrankung der Zähne, bei der der Zahnschmelz und teilweise das Dentin zerfällt

Where the eye mixes kapier and Karies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kapier and Karies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
kapier
6 ch
Karies

Visual trap between kapier and Karies

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kapier is [kaˈpiːɐ̯] while Karies is [ˈkaːʁiɛs]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kapier is recorded at frequency rank #44,002, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈpiːɐ̯]. Karies is at rank #39,460, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaːʁiɛs].

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 83462, this pair ranks #139,526 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kapier vs Karies

Shared letters: aeikr. Private to "kapier": p. Private to "Karies": s.

"kapier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Karies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kapier ← akpier · kaiper · kapeir · kapierr · kapire · kappier · kkapier · kpaier
  • Karies ← akries · kaires · kareis · kariess · karise · karries · kkaries · kraies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kapier" for "Karies" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kapier" is a verb and "Karies" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kapier" or "Karies" show up more?
"Karies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,460 in our German list, against #44,002 for "kapier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kapier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Karies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,526 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kapier" and "Karies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Karies vs Knies". 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 #139,526 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