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 |
Letter map: kara vs kau
Shared letters muted; letters that set kara and kau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. kara runs 4 letters (CVCV) against kau's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - kara and kau
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kara" for "kau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "kara" vs "kau" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "kara" and "kau". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "kara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #671,348 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kara" and "kau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kau vs KGaA". 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 #671,348 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.