kaumvskommWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kaum is a adverb, komm is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kaum” is an adverb and “komm” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#379
“kaum” frequency rank
#1,062
“komm” frequency rank
1441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kaum komm
Definition nur zu einem sehr geringen Grad; so gut wie gar nicht 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kommen

Where the eye mixes kaum and komm

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
kaum
4 ch
komm

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kaum is [kaʊ̯m] while komm is [kɔm]. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kaum is recorded at frequency rank #379, classified as anadv, pronounced [kaʊ̯m]. komm is at rank #1,062, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɔm].

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 1441, this pair ranks #2,004,345 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kaum vs komm

Shared letters: km. Private to "kaum": au. Private to "komm": o.

"kaum" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "komm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kaumakum · kamu · kaumm · kkaum · kuam
  • kommkkomm · kmom · okmm

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kaum" and "komm" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kaum" is an adverb and "komm" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kaum" or "komm"?
"kaum" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #379 in our German list, against #1,062 for "komm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "kaum" and "komm". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kaum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "komm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,345 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kaum" and "komm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kola vs komm". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list