KlagevsklammWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Klage is a noun, klamm is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Klage” is a noun and “klamm” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,898
“Klage” frequency rank
#40,031
“klamm” frequency rank
43929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Klage klamm
Definition sprachlich gefasste Äußerung unlustvoller Gefühle von Schmerz, Leid oder Trauer, etwa über den Tod eines Menschen feucht, oft in Verbindung mit dem Empfinden von Kälte

Where the eye mixes Klage and klamm

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

5 ch
Klage
5 ch
klamm

Visual trap between Klage and klamm

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Klage is [ˈklaːɡə] while klamm is [klam]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Klage is recorded at frequency rank #3,898, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaːɡə]. klamm is at rank #40,031, tagged as anadj, pronounced [klam].

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 43929, this pair ranks #1,402,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Klage vs klamm

Shared letters: akl. Private to "Klage": eg. Private to "klamm": m.

"Klage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "klamm" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Klage ← kalge · kklage · klaeg · klagge · klgae · kllage · lkage
  • klamm ← kalmm · kklamm · klam · kllamm · klmam · lkamm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Klage" for "klamm" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Klage" is a noun and "klamm" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Klage" or "klamm" show up more?
"Klage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,898 in our German list, against #40,031 for "klamm". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Klage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klamm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,402,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Klage" and "klamm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "klamm vs kläre". 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 #1,402,528 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