KehlvskehreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Kehl is a name, kehre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Kehl” is a name and “kehre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,588
“Kehl” frequency rank
#31,121
“kehre” frequency rank
54709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kehl kehre
Definition eine Stadt in Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kehren

Where the eye mixes Kehl and kehre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kehl runs 4 letters (CVCC) against kehre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Kehl
5 ch
kehre

Look-alike desk: Kehl vs kehre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kehl is [keːl] while kehre is [ˈkeːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kehl is recorded at frequency rank #23,588, classified as aname, pronounced [keːl]. kehre is at rank #31,121, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkeːʁə].

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 54709, this pair ranks #1,008,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kehl vs kehre

Shared letters: ehk. Private to "Kehl": l. Private to "kehre": r.

"Kehl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kehlekhl · kehhl · kehll · kelh · khel · kkehl
  • kehreekhre · keher · kehhre · kehrre · kerhe · khere · kkehre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kehl" and "kehre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kehl" is a name and "kehre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Kehl" or "kehre" show up more?
"Kehl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,588 in our German list, against #31,121 for "kehre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kehl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kehre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,008,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kehl" and "kehre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kehre vs kläre". 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 #1,008,249 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