KettevsKröteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,283
“Kette” frequency rank
#33,158
“Kröte” frequency rank
37441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kette Kröte
Definition Reihe aus beweglichen, ineinandergefügten Gliedern dem Frosch ähnliche, kurzbeinige, springende Amphibie mit plumpem Körper und warzenbedeckter, Giftstoffe absondernder Haut

Where the eye mixes Kette and Kröte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kette (CVCCV) and Kröte (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Kette
5 ch
Kröte

Look-alike desk: Kette vs Kröte

A purely visual mix-up. Kette ([ˈkɛtə]) and Kröte ([ˈkʁøːtə]) 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 37441, 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]. Kröte is at rank #33,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁøːtə].

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 37441, this pair ranks #1,590,156 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kette vs Kröte

Shared letters: ekt. Private to "Kette": -. Private to "Kröte": rö.

"Kette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Kröte" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kette ← ektte · kete · ketet · kkette · ktete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kette" and "Kröte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɛtə] versus [ˈkʁøːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kette" or "Kröte" show up more?
"Kette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,283 in our German list, against #33,158 for "Kröte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Kröte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590,156 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kette" and "Kröte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "krönt vs Kröte". 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 #1,590,156 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