KaratvskargeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#29,188
“Karat” frequency rank
#49,815
“karge” frequency rank
79003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karat karge
Definition Einheit für die Masse (das Gewicht) von Edelsteinen: 1 Karat entspricht etwa 0,2 Gramm 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kargen

Where the eye mixes Karat and karge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Karat (CVCVC) and karge (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Karat
5 ch
karge

Why the eye confuses Karat with karge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Karat is [kaˈʁaːt] while karge is [ˈkaʁɡə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Karat is recorded at frequency rank #29,188, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈʁaːt]. 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 79003, this pair ranks #225,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Karat vs karge

Shared letters: akr. Private to "Karat": t. Private to "karge": eg.

"Karat" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "karge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karat ← akrat · kaart · karatt · karrat · karta · kkarat · kraat
  • karge ← akrge · kagre · kareg · kargge · karrge · kkarge · krage

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Karat" for "karge" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Karat" is a noun and "karge" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Karat" or "karge"?
"Karat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,188 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Karat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "karge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #225,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Karat" and "karge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge 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 #225,851 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