klappenvskrapfenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,075
“klappen” frequency rank
#37,628
“krapfen” frequency rank
44703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature klappen krapfen
Definition ein Teil von etwas in eine bestimmte Richtung oder Stellung wenden, biegen Krapfen, Berliner Pfannkuchen

Letter map: klappen vs krapfen

Shared letters muted; letters that set klappen and krapfen apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. klappen and krapfen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
klappen
7 ch
krapfen

Grammar separator: klappen vs krapfen

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: klappen is averb and krapfenanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

klappen is recorded at frequency rank #7,075, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklapn̩]. krapfen is at rank #37,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 44703, this pair ranks #1,377,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of klappen vs krapfen

Shared letters: aeknp. Private to "klappen": l. Private to "krapfen": fr.

"klappen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "krapfen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klappen ← kalppen · kklappen · klapen · klapepn · klappenn · klappne · kllappen · klpapen
  • krapfen ← kkrapfen · krafpen · krapefn · krapfenn · krapffen · krapfne · krappfen · krpafen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "klappen" for "krapfen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "klappen" is a verb and "krapfen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "klappen" or "krapfen" show up more?
"klappen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,075 in our German list, against #37,628 for "krapfen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "klappen" and "krapfen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "klappen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "krapfen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,377,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "klappen" and "krapfen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "krapfen vs puzzles". 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 #1,377,499 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