Which to use
“Käufern” is a noun and “kauften” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,468
- “Käufern” frequency rank
- #18,595
- “kauften” frequency rank
- 55063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Käufern | kauften |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Käufer | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kaufen |
Where the eye mixes Käufern and kauften
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Käufern (CVVCVCC) and kauften (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Käufern vs kauften
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Käufern is [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐn] while kauften is [ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩]. 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 55063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Käufern is recorded at frequency rank #36,468, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔɪ̯fɐn]. kauften is at rank #18,595, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩].
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 55063, this pair ranks #994,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Käufern vs kauften
Shared letters: efknu. Private to "Käufern": rä. Private to "kauften": at.
"Käufern" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "kauften" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kauften ← akuften · kafuten · kaufetn · kaufften · kauftenn · kauftne · kauftten · kautfen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Käufern" for "kauften" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Käufern" or "kauften" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Käufern" and "kauften" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Käufern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kauften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #994,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Käufern" and "kauften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Käufern vs Käufers". 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 #994,179 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.