KehlevskehrTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#11,268
“Kehle” frequency rank
#36,440
“kehr” frequency rank
47708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kehle kehr
Definition unter dem Kinn gelegener Teil des Halses; Bezeichnung für Luftröhre oder Speiseröhre 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kehren

Where the eye mixes Kehle and kehr

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

5 ch
Kehle
4 ch
kehr

Visual trap between Kehle and kehr

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kehle is [ˈkeːlə] while kehr is [keːɐ̯]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kehle is recorded at frequency rank #11,268, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkeːlə]. kehr is at rank #36,440, tagged as averb, pronounced [keːɐ̯].

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 47708, this pair ranks #1,274,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kehle vs kehr

Shared letters: ehk. Private to "Kehle": l. Private to "kehr": r.

"Kehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kehle ← ekhle · kehel · kehhle · kehlle · kelhe · khele · kkehle
  • kehr ← ekhr · kehhr · kehrr · kerh · kher · kkehr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kehle" for "kehr" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kehle" is a noun and "kehr" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Kehle" vs "kehr" - which ranks higher?
"Kehle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,268 in our German list, against #36,440 for "kehr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kehle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kehr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,274,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kehle" and "kehr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kar vs kehr". 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 #1,274,881 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