kargvsklärtConfusable pair

Quick tell: karg is a adjective, klärt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“karg” is an adjective and “klärt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,459
“karg” frequency rank
#12,951
“klärt” frequency rank
52410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature karg klärt
Definition (sehr) knapp, gering, wenig 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klären

Where the eye mixes karg and klärt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. karg runs 4 letters (CVCC) against klärt's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
karg
5 ch
klärt

Look-alike desk: karg vs klärt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: karg is [kaʁk] while klärt is [klɛːɐ̯t]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52410, 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]. klärt is at rank #12,951, tagged as averb, pronounced [klɛːɐ̯t].

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 52410, this pair ranks #1,098,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of karg vs klärt

Shared letters: kr. Private to "karg": ag. Private to "klärt": ltä.

"karg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "klärt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karg ← akrg · kagr · kargg · karrg · kkarg · krag

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "karg" for "klärt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "karg" is an adjective and "klärt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "karg" vs "klärt" - which ranks higher?
"klärt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,951 in our German list, against #39,459 for "karg". 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 "karg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klärt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,098,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "karg" and "klärt" 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 #1,098,082 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