KäsevskläreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,754
“Käse” frequency rank
#44,735
“kläre” frequency rank
48489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Käse kläre
Definition ein festes Milchprodukt 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klären

Where the eye mixes Käse and kläre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Käse runs 4 letters (CVCV) against kläre's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Käse
5 ch
kläre

Visual trap between Käse and kläre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Käse is [ˈkɛːzə] while kläre is [ˈklɛːʁə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Käse is recorded at frequency rank #3,754, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛːzə]. 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 48489, this pair ranks #1,246,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Käse vs kläre

Shared letters: ekä. Private to "Käse": s. Private to "kläre": lr.

"Käse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "kläre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Käse" and "kläre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Käse" is a noun and "kläre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Käse" vs "kläre" - which ranks higher?
"Käse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,754 in our German list, against #44,735 for "kläre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Käse" 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 #1,246,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Käse" and "kläre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs kläre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,246,732 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