KehlevsKerbeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Kehle” and “Kerbe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,268
“Kehle” frequency rank
#36,443
“Kerbe” frequency rank
47711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kehle Kerbe
Definition unter dem Kinn gelegener Teil des Halses; Bezeichnung für Luftröhre oder Speiseröhre eine keilförmige Vertiefung

Where the eye mixes Kehle and Kerbe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kehle and Kerbe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Kehle
5 ch
Kerbe

Look-alike desk: Kehle vs Kerbe

A purely visual mix-up. Kehle ([ˈkeːlə]) and Kerbe ([ˈkɛʁbə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47711, 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]. Kerbe is at rank #36,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛʁbə].

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 47711, this pair ranks #1,274,785 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kehle vs Kerbe

Shared letters: ek. Private to "Kehle": hl. Private to "Kerbe": br.

"Kehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Kerbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kehle ← ekhle · kehel · kehhle · kehlle · kelhe · khele · kkehle
  • Kerbe ← ekrbe · kebre · kerbbe · kereb · kerrbe · kkerbe · krebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kehle" for "Kerbe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkeːlə] versus [ˈkɛʁbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kehle" or "Kerbe" show up more?
"Kehle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,268 in our German list, against #36,443 for "Kerbe". 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 "Kehle" and "Kerbe" 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 "Kerbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,274,785 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kehle" and "Kerbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kerbe". 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 #1,274,785 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