kehrevskenneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,121
“kehre” frequency rank
#882
“kenne” frequency rank
32003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kehre kenne
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kehren 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kennen

Where the eye mixes kehre and kenne

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

5 ch
kehre
5 ch
kenne

Visual trap between kehre and kenne

A purely visual mix-up. kehre ([ˈkeːʁə]) and kenne ([ˈkɛnə]) 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 32003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kehre is recorded at frequency rank #31,121, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkeːʁə]. kenne is at rank #882, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɛnə].

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 32003, this pair ranks #1,716,792 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kehre vs kenne

Shared letters: ek. Private to "kehre": hr. Private to "kenne": n.

"kehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kenne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kehreekhre · keher · kehhre · kehrre · kerhe · khere · kkehre
  • kenneeknne · kene · kkenne · knene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kehre" and "kenne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkeːʁə] versus [ˈkɛnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kehre" or "kenne" show up more?
"kenne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #882 in our German list, against #31,121 for "kehre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kehre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kenne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,716,792 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kehre" and "kenne" 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 #1,716,792 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