kargevskläreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,815
“karge” frequency rank
#44,735
“kläre” frequency rank
94550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature karge kläre
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kargen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klären

Where the eye mixes karge and kläre

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

5 ch
karge
5 ch
kläre

Visual trap between karge and kläre

A purely visual mix-up. karge ([ˈkaʁɡə]) and kläre ([ˈklɛːʁə]) 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 94550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

karge is recorded at frequency rank #49,815, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʁɡə]. 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 94550, this pair ranks #16,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of karge vs kläre

Shared letters: ekr. Private to "karge": ag. Private to "kläre": lä.

"karge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kläre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karge ← akrge · kagre · kareg · kargge · karrge · kkarge · krage

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "karge" and "kläre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaʁɡə] versus [ˈklɛːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "karge" or "kläre" show up more?
"kläre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,735 in our German list, against #49,815 for "karge". 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 "karge" 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 #16,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "karge" and "kläre" 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 #16,161 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