KaratevsKarreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Karate” and “Karre” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,336
“Karate” frequency rank
#18,943
“Karre” frequency rank
33279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karate Karre
Definition waffenlose Kampf- oder Verteidigungskunst eine Transportfläche auf Rädern ohne eigenen Antrieb

Where the eye mixes Karate and Karre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Karate
5 ch
Karre

Why the eye confuses Karate with Karre

A purely visual mix-up. Karate ([kaˈʁaːtə]) and Karre ([ˈkaʁə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Karate is recorded at frequency rank #14,336, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈʁaːtə]. Karre is at rank #18,943, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʁə].

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 33279, this pair ranks #1,689,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Karate vs Karre

Shared letters: aekr. Private to "Karate": t. Private to "Karre": -.

"Karate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Karre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karateakrate · kaarte · karaet · karatte · karrate · kartae · kkarate · kraate
  • Karreakrre · kare · karer · kkarre · krare

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Karate" for "Karre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈʁaːtə] versus [ˈkaʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Karate" or "Karre"?
"Karate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,336 in our German list, against #18,943 for "Karre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Karate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Karre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,689,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Karate" and "Karre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Karre". 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 #1,689,427 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