kippenvskloppenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,505
“kippen” frequency rank
#43,290
“kloppen” frequency rank
53795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kippen kloppen
Definition etwas schräg stellen, in Schräglage bringen schlagen

Where the eye mixes kippen and kloppen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kippen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against kloppen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kippen
7 ch
kloppen

Why the eye confuses kippen with kloppen

A purely visual mix-up. kippen ([ˈkɪpn̩]) and kloppen ([ˈklɔpn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kippen is recorded at frequency rank #10,505, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɪpn̩]. kloppen is at rank #43,290, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈklɔpn̩].

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 53795, this pair ranks #1,043,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kippen vs kloppen

Shared letters: eknp. Private to "kippen": i. Private to "kloppen": lo.

"kippen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kloppen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kippen ← ikppen · kipen · kipepn · kippenn · kippne · kkippen · kpipen
  • kloppen ← kkloppen · klloppen · klopen · klopepn · kloppenn · kloppne · klpopen · kolppen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kippen" for "kloppen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɪpn̩] versus [ˈklɔpn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "kippen" vs "kloppen" - which ranks higher?
"kippen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,505 in our German list, against #43,290 for "kloppen". 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 "kippen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kloppen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,043,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kippen" and "kloppen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kloppen vs krippen". 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 #1,043,953 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