KerbevsKörbeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,443
“Kerbe” frequency rank
#29,667
“Körbe” frequency rank
66110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kerbe Körbe
Definition eine keilförmige Vertiefung Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Korb

Where the eye mixes Kerbe and Körbe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kerbe and Körbe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Kerbe
5 ch
Körbe

Why the eye confuses Kerbe with Körbe

A purely visual mix-up. Kerbe ([ˈkɛʁbə]) and Körbe ([ˈkœʁbə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “Kerbe” becomes ö in “Körbe”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kerbe is recorded at frequency rank #36,443, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛʁbə]. Körbe is at rank #29,667, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkœʁbə].

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 66110, this pair ranks #584,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kerbe vs Körbe

Shared letters: bekr. Private to "Kerbe": -. Private to "Körbe": ö.

"Kerbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Körbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kerbe ← ekrbe · kebre · kerbbe · kereb · kerrbe · kkerbe · krebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kerbe" for "Körbe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɛʁbə] versus [ˈkœʁbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kerbe" or "Körbe"?
"Körbe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,667 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kerbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Körbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #584,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kerbe" and "Körbe" 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 #584,293 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