Which to use
“Karel” is a name and “Kartei” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,114
- “Karel” frequency rank
- #48,265
- “Kartei” frequency rank
- 80379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Karel | Kartei |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tschechischer männlicher Vorname | nach einem bestimmten Prinzip sortierte Sammlung von Daten auf Karten oder Blättern gleichen Formats |
Where the eye mixes Karel and Kartei
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Karel runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Kartei's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Karel with Kartei
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Karel is [ˈkarɛl] while Kartei is [kaʁˈtaɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Karel is recorded at frequency rank #32,114, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈkarɛl]. Kartei is at rank #48,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaʁˈtaɪ̯].
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 80379, this pair ranks #196,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Karel vs Kartei
Shared letters: aekr. Private to "Karel": l. Private to "Kartei": it.
"Karel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Kartei" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Karel" for "Kartei" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Karel" or "Kartei" show up more?
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 "Karel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Kartei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #196,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Karel" and "Kartei" 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 #196,808 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.