kara vs kau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#21,657
“kara” frequency rank: #41,934
“kau” frequency rank: 63591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set kara and kau apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

kara

3 ch

kau

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kara is anadjective and kauaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kara is recorded at frequency rank #21,657, classified as anadj. kau is at rank #41,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaʊ̯].

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 63591, this pair ranks #671,348 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kara vs kau

Shared letters: ak. Private to "kara": r. Private to "kau": u.

"kara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "kau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

kara ← akra · kaar · karra · kkara · kraa

Frequency comparison

kara#21,657

kau#41,934

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kara" and "kau" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kara" is an adjective and "kau" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "kara" or "kau"?

"kara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,657 in our German list, against #41,934 for "kau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering kara vs kau

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 “kau”.
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