KartenvsKrötenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,559
“Karten” frequency rank
#29,203
“Kröten” frequency rank
30762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karten Kröten
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Karte Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kröte

Where the eye mixes Karten and Kröten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Karten (CVCCVC) and Kröten (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Karten
6 ch
Kröten

Visual trap between Karten and Kröten

A purely visual mix-up. Karten ([ˈkaʁtn̩]) and Kröten ([ˈkʁøːtn̩]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Karten is recorded at frequency rank #1,559, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʁtn̩]. Kröten is at rank #29,203, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁøːtn̩].

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 30762, this pair ranks #1,741,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Karten vs Kröten

Shared letters: eknrt. Private to "Karten": a. Private to "Kröten": ö.

"Karten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Kröten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karten ← akrten · karetn · karrten · kartenn · kartne · kartten · katren · kkarten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Karten" for "Kröten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaʁtn̩] versus [ˈkʁøːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Karten" or "Kröten"?
"Karten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,559 in our German list, against #29,203 for "Kröten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Karten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kröten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Karten" and "Kröten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kroate vs Kröten". 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 #1,741,577 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