KlausvsKrausWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Klaus is a noun, Kraus is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Klaus” is a noun and “Kraus” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,775
“Klaus” frequency rank
#10,889
“Kraus” frequency rank
12664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Klaus Kraus
Definition meist an eine Synagoge angeschlossenes Lehrhaus oder angeschlossene Schule, in der Juden ihre Tora- und Talmudstudien betreiben können deutscher Nachname, Familienname

Where the eye mixes Klaus and Kraus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Klaus and Kraus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Klaus
5 ch
Kraus

Visual trap between Klaus and Kraus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Klaus is [klaʊ̯s] while Kraus is [kʁaʊ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “Klaus” becomes r in “Kraus”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Klaus is recorded at frequency rank #1,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [klaʊ̯s]. Kraus is at rank #10,889, tagged as aname, pronounced [kʁaʊ̯s].

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 12664, this pair ranks #1,962,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Klaus vs Kraus

Shared letters: aksu. Private to "Klaus": l. Private to "Kraus": r.

"Klaus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Kraus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Klaus ← kalus · kklaus · klasu · klauss · kllaus · kluas · lkaus
  • Kraus ← karus · kkraus · krasu · krraus · kruas · rkaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Klaus" for "Kraus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Klaus" is a noun and "Kraus" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Klaus" or "Kraus" show up more?
"Klaus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,775 in our German list, against #10,889 for "Kraus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Klaus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kraus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,962,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Klaus" and "Kraus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kräht vs Kraus". 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 #1,962,812 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