kargvsKorkWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#39,459
“karg” frequency rank
#43,297
“Kork” frequency rank
82756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature karg Kork
Definition (sehr) knapp, gering, wenig 2,5 bis 20 cm dicke Rinde der Korkeiche (quercus suber), aus lückenlos aneinander schließenden Zellen, die für Flüssigkeiten und Gase schwer durchlässig sind

Where the eye mixes karg and Kork

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. karg and Kork follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
karg
4 ch
Kork

Visual trap between karg and Kork

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: karg is [kaʁk] while Kork is [kɔʁk]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82756, 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]. Kork is at rank #43,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔʁk].

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 82756, this pair ranks #151,570 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of karg vs Kork

Shared letters: kr. Private to "karg": ag. Private to "Kork": o.

"karg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Kork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karg ← akrg · kagr · kargg · karrg · kkarg · krag
  • Kork ← kkork · kokr · korkk · korrk · krok · okrk

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "karg" and "Kork" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "karg" is an adjective and "Kork" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "karg" or "Kork"?
"karg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,459 in our German list, against #43,297 for "Kork". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "karg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kork" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,570 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "karg" and "Kork" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kola vs Kork". 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 #151,570 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