KaratevskaufteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#14,336
“Karate” frequency rank
#7,949
“kaufte” frequency rank
22285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karate kaufte
Definition waffenlose Kampf- oder Verteidigungskunst 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kaufen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Karate and kaufte apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Karate
6 ch
kaufte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Karate is [kaˈʁaːtə] while kaufte is [ˈkaʊ̯ftə]. 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 22285, 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]. kaufte is at rank #7,949, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʊ̯ftə].

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 22285, this pair ranks #1,876,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Karate vs kaufte

Shared letters: aekt. Private to "Karate": r. Private to "kaufte": fu.

"Karate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "kaufte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karateakrate · kaarte · karaet · karatte · karrate · kartae · kkarate · kraate
  • kaufteakufte · kafute · kaufet · kauffte · kauftte · kautfe · kkaufte · kuafte

Frequency comparison

Karate#14,336
kaufte#7,949

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Karate" and "kaufte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Karate" is a noun and "kaufte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Karate" or "kaufte"?
"kaufte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,949 in our German list, against #14,336 for "Karate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Karate vs kaufte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Karate”; for a verb, it's “kaufte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Karate” 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