KehlevsKetteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,268
“Kehle” frequency rank
#4,283
“Kette” frequency rank
15551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kehle Kette
Definition unter dem Kinn gelegener Teil des Halses; Bezeichnung für Luftröhre oder Speiseröhre Reihe aus beweglichen, ineinandergefügten Gliedern

Where the eye mixes Kehle and Kette

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kehle and Kette 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
Kette

Look-alike desk: Kehle vs Kette

A purely visual mix-up. Kehle ([ˈkeːlə]) and Kette ([ˈkɛtə]) 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 15551, 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]. Kette is at rank #4,283, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛtə].

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 15551, this pair ranks #1,942,966 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kehle vs Kette

Shared letters: ek. Private to "Kehle": hl. Private to "Kette": t.

"Kehle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Kette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kehleekhle · kehel · kehhle · kehlle · kelhe · khele · kkehle
  • Ketteektte · kete · ketet · kkette · ktete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kehle" for "Kette" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkeːlə] versus [ˈkɛtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kehle" or "Kette"?
"Kette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,283 in our German list, against #11,268 for "Kehle". 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 "Kehle" and "Kette" 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 "Kette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,942,966 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kehle" and "Kette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kehle vs Kölle". 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 #1,942,966 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