kauftenvsKräftenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,595
“kauften” frequency rank
#7,496
“Kräften” frequency rank
26091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kauften Kräften
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kaufen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kraft

Where the eye mixes kauften and Kräften

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

7 ch
kauften
7 ch
Kräften

Look-alike desk: kauften vs Kräften

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kauften is [ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩] while Kräften is [ˈkʁɛftn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kauften is recorded at frequency rank #18,595, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩]. Kräften is at rank #7,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁɛftn̩].

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 26091, this pair ranks #1,823,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kauften vs Kräften

Shared letters: efknt. Private to "kauften": au. Private to "Kräften": rä.

"kauften" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "Kräften" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kauften ← akuften · kafuten · kaufetn · kaufften · kauftenn · kauftne · kauftten · kautfen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kauften" and "Kräften" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kauften" is a verb and "Kräften" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kauften" or "Kräften" show up more?
"Kräften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,496 in our German list, against #18,595 for "kauften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kauften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kräften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,823,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kauften" and "Kräften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kauften vs kürten". 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 #1,823,302 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