KarelvskläreWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Karel is a name, kläre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Karel” is a name and “kläre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,114
“Karel” frequency rank
#44,735
“kläre” frequency rank
76849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karel kläre
Definition tschechischer männlicher Vorname 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klären

Where the eye mixes Karel and kläre

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

5 ch
Karel
5 ch
kläre

Look-alike desk: Karel vs kläre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Karel is [ˈkarɛl] while kläre is [ˈklɛːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76849, 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]. kläre is at rank #44,735, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈklɛːʁə].

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 76849, this pair ranks #274,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Karel vs kläre

Shared letters: eklr. Private to "Karel": a. Private to "kläre": ä.

"Karel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "kläre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karel ← akrel · kaerl · karell · karle · karrel · kkarel · krael

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Karel" and "kläre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Karel" is a name and "kläre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Karel" vs "kläre" - which ranks higher?
"Karel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,114 in our German list, against #44,735 for "kläre". 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 "Karel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kläre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Karel" and "kläre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs kläre". 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 #274,272 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