KindernvskonternTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#883
“Kindern” frequency rank
#29,197
“kontern” frequency rank
30080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kindern kontern
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kind eine Rede oder Maßnahme mit Gegenrede oder -maßnahmen beantworten

Where the eye mixes Kindern and kontern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Kindern and kontern follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Kindern
7 ch
kontern

Look-alike desk: Kindern vs kontern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kindern is [ˈkɪndɐn] while kontern is [ˈkɔntɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kindern is recorded at frequency rank #883, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɪndɐn]. kontern is at rank #29,197, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔntɐn].

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 30080, this pair ranks #1,754,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kindern vs kontern

Shared letters: eknr. Private to "Kindern": di. Private to "kontern": ot.

"Kindern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "kontern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kindern ← ikndern · kidnern · kinddern · kindenr · kindernn · kinderrn · kindren · kinedrn
  • kontern ← kkontern · knotern · konetrn · konntern · kontenr · konternn · konterrn · kontren

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kindern" and "kontern" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kindern" is a noun and "kontern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Kindern" vs "kontern" - which ranks higher?
"Kindern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #883 in our German list, against #29,197 for "kontern". 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 "Kindern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kontern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,754,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kindern" and "kontern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kontern vs Kontur". 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 #1,754,803 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