KastevsKüsseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,378
“Kaste” frequency rank
#13,420
“Küsse” frequency rank
58798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kaste Küsse
Definition geschlossene Gesellschaftsschicht innerhalb einer (insbesondere der hinduistischen) Gesellschaftsordnung Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kuss

Where the eye mixes Kaste and Küsse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kaste and Küsse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Kaste
5 ch
Küsse

Visual trap between Kaste and Küsse

A purely visual mix-up. Kaste ([ˈkastə]) and Küsse ([ˈkʏsə]) 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 58798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kaste is recorded at frequency rank #45,378, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkastə]. Küsse is at rank #13,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏsə].

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 58798, this pair ranks #848,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kaste vs Küsse

Shared letters: eks. Private to "Kaste": at. Private to "Küsse": ü.

"Kaste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Küsse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kaste ← akste · kaset · kasste · kastte · katse · kkaste · ksate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kaste" for "Küsse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkastə] versus [ˈkʏsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kaste" or "Küsse"?
"Küsse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,420 in our German list, against #45,378 for "Kaste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kaste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Küsse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #848,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kaste" and "Küsse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kaste". 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 #848,879 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