klärtevsKnarreTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#45,390
“klärte” frequency rank
#37,020
“Knarre” frequency rank
82410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature klärte Knarre
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs klären hölzernes Lärm- und Musikinstrument, teilweise auch aus Kunststoff hergestellt

Where the eye mixes klärte and Knarre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. klärte and Knarre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
klärte
6 ch
Knarre

Visual trap between klärte and Knarre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: klärte is [ˈklɛːɐ̯tə] while Knarre is [ˈknaʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

klärte is recorded at frequency rank #45,390, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklɛːɐ̯tə]. Knarre is at rank #37,020, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈknaʁə].

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 82410, this pair ranks #157,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of klärte vs Knarre

Shared letters: ekr. Private to "klärte": ltä. Private to "Knarre": an.

"klärte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Knarre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Knarre ← kanrre · kknarre · knare · knarer · knnarre · knrare · nkarre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "klärte" for "Knarre" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "klärte" is a verb and "Knarre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "klärte" vs "Knarre" - which ranks higher?
"Knarre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,020 in our German list, against #45,390 for "klärte". 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 "klärte" and "Knarre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "klärte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Knarre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "klärte" and "Knarre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs klärte". 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 #157,811 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