karavskargeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kara is a adjective, karge is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kara” is an adjective and “karge” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,657
“kara” frequency rank
#49,815
“karge” frequency rank
71472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kara karge
Definition lieb, wert, teuer, wertvoll, hold, herzig 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kargen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set kara and karge apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
kara
5 ch
karge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kara is anadjective and kargeaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kara is recorded at frequency rank #21,657, classified as anadj. karge is at rank #49,815, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʁɡə].

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 71472, this pair ranks #415,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kara vs karge

Shared letters: akr. Private to "kara": -. Private to "karge": eg.

"kara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "karge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karaakra · kaar · karra · kkara · kraa
  • kargeakrge · kagre · kareg · kargge · karrge · kkarge · krage

Frequency comparison

kara#21,657
karge#49,815

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kara" and "karge" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kara" is an adjective and "karge" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kara" or "karge"?
"kara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,657 in our German list, against #49,815 for "karge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering kara vs karge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “kara”; for a verb, it's “karge”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “kara” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list