KettevskittenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#4,283
“Kette” frequency rank
#46,071
“kitten” frequency rank
50354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kette kitten
Definition Reihe aus beweglichen, ineinandergefügten Gliedern etwas mithilfe von Kitt zusammenkleben

Where the eye mixes Kette and kitten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Kette
6 ch
kitten

Look-alike desk: Kette vs kitten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kette is [ˈkɛtə] while kitten is [ˈkɪtn̩]. 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 50354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kette is recorded at frequency rank #4,283, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛtə]. kitten is at rank #46,071, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɪtn̩].

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 50354, this pair ranks #1,176,880 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kette vs kitten

Shared letters: ekt. Private to "Kette": -. Private to "kitten": in.

"Kette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kitten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ketteektte · kete · ketet · kkette · ktete
  • kitteniktten · kiten · kitetn · kittenn · kittne · kkitten · ktiten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kette" and "kitten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kette" is a noun and "kitten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Kette" or "kitten" show up more?
"Kette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,283 in our German list, against #46,071 for "kitten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kitten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,176,880 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kette" and "kitten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kitten vs Kutter". 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 #1,176,880 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