KäufervskaufteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#5,197
“Käufer” frequency rank
#7,949
“kaufte” frequency rank
13146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Käufer kaufte
Definition jemand, der gegen Bezahlung etwas in Besitz nimmt, etwas kauft 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kaufen

Where the eye mixes Käufer and kaufte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Käufer
6 ch
kaufte

Visual trap between Käufer and kaufte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Käufer is [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ] while kaufte is [ˈkaʊ̯ftə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Käufer is recorded at frequency rank #5,197, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ]. kaufte is at rank #7,949, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʊ̯ftə].

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 13146, this pair ranks #1,959,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Käufer vs kaufte

Shared letters: efku. Private to "Käufer": . Private to "kaufte": at.

"Käufer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "kaufte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kaufteakufte · kafute · kaufet · kauffte · kauftte · kautfe · kkaufte · kuafte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Käufer" and "kaufte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Käufer" is a noun and "kaufte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Käufer" or "kaufte"?
"Käufer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,197 in our German list, against #7,949 for "kaufte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Käufer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kaufte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Käufer" and "kaufte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kaufte vs kaut". 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 #1,959,838 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