kartvsKarteiConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#16,467
“kart” frequency rank
#48,265
“Kartei” frequency rank
64732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kart Kartei
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs karten nach einem bestimmten Prinzip sortierte Sammlung von Daten auf Karten oder Blättern gleichen Formats

Where the eye mixes kart and Kartei

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

4 ch
kart
6 ch
Kartei

Look-alike desk: kart vs Kartei

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kart is [kaʁt] while Kartei is [kaʁˈtaɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “kart” sits inside “Kartei”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kart is recorded at frequency rank #16,467, classified as averb, pronounced [kaʁt]. Kartei is at rank #48,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaʁˈtaɪ̯].

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 64732, this pair ranks #631,255 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kart vs Kartei

Shared letters: akrt. Private to "kart": -. Private to "Kartei": ei.

"kart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Kartei" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kart ← akrt · karrt · kartt · katr · kkart · krat
  • Kartei ← akrtei · kareti · karrtei · kartie · karttei · katrei · kkartei · kratei

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kart" and "Kartei" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kart" is a verb and "Kartei" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kart" vs "Kartei" - which ranks higher?
"kart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,467 in our German list, against #48,265 for "Kartei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "kart" and "Kartei" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kartei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #631,255 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kart" and "Kartei" 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 #631,255 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