klärevsklauenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,735
“kläre” frequency rank
#7,076
“klauen” frequency rank
51811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kläre klauen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klären etwas entwenden, stehlen

Where the eye mixes kläre and klauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kläre runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against klauen's 6 (CCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
kläre
6 ch
klauen

Look-alike desk: kläre vs klauen

A purely visual mix-up. kläre ([ˈklɛːʁə]) and klauen ([ˈklaʊ̯ən]) 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 51811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kläre is recorded at frequency rank #44,735, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklɛːʁə]. klauen is at rank #7,076, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈklaʊ̯ən].

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 51811, this pair ranks #1,121,120 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kläre vs klauen

Shared letters: ekl. Private to "kläre": rä. Private to "klauen": anu.

"kläre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "klauen" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klauen ← kaluen · kklauen · klaeun · klauenn · klaune · kllauen · kluaen · lkauen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kläre" and "klauen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklɛːʁə] versus [ˈklaʊ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kläre" or "klauen"?
"klauen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,076 in our German list, against #44,735 for "kläre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "kläre" and "klauen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kläre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,121,120 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kläre" and "klauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge 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 #1,121,120 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