kargvsklarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,459
“karg” frequency rank
#257
“klar” frequency rank
39716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature karg klar
Definition (sehr) knapp, gering, wenig frei von Unreinheiten oder generell Störendem

Where the eye mixes karg and klar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
karg
4 ch
klar

Why the eye confuses karg with klar

A purely visual mix-up. karg ([kaʁk]) and klar ([klaːɐ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

karg is recorded at frequency rank #39,459, classified as anadj, pronounced [kaʁk]. klar is at rank #257, tagged as anadj, pronounced [klaːɐ̯].

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 39716, this pair ranks #1,528,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of karg vs klar

Shared letters: akr. Private to "karg": g. Private to "klar": l.

"karg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "klar" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kargakrg · kagr · kargg · karrg · kkarg · krag
  • klarkalr · kklar · klarr · kllar · klra · lkar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "karg" for "klar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaʁk] versus [klaːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "karg" or "klar"?
"klar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #257 in our German list, against #39,459 for "karg". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "karg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,528,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "karg" and "klar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karg vs karge". 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 #1,528,971 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