kargenvsKarteTell them apart

Quick tell: kargen is a verb, Karte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kargen” is a verb and “Karte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,627
“kargen” frequency rank
#1,203
“Karte” frequency rank
41830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kargen Karte
Definition mit etwas geizen, es nicht gerne teilen oder verschenken ein handlicher, planer, steifer aber nicht starrer, meist rechteckiger Gegenstand aus Karton, Pappe, Papier, Kunststoff, allenfalls Holz oder Metall

Where the eye mixes kargen and Karte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kargen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Karte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kargen
5 ch
Karte

Visual trap between kargen and Karte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kargen is [ˈkaʁɡn̩] while Karte is [ˈkaʁtə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kargen is recorded at frequency rank #40,627, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʁɡn̩]. Karte is at rank #1,203, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʁtə].

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 41830, this pair ranks #1,467,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kargen vs Karte

Shared letters: aekr. Private to "kargen": gn. Private to "Karte": t.

"kargen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Karte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kargen ← akrgen · kagren · karegn · kargenn · karggen · kargne · karrgen · kkargen
  • Karte ← akrte · karet · karrte · kartte · katre · kkarte · krate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kargen" and "Karte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kargen" is a verb and "Karte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kargen" vs "Karte" - which ranks higher?
"Karte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,203 in our German list, against #40,627 for "kargen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kargen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Karte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,467,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kargen" and "Karte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs kargen". 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 #1,467,777 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