klebevsKleidTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,281
“klebe” frequency rank
#3,977
“Kleid” frequency rank
45258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature klebe Kleid
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kleben einteiliges Oberbekleidungsstück für weibliche Personen

Where the eye mixes klebe and Kleid

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
klebe
5 ch
Kleid

Why the eye confuses klebe with Kleid

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: klebe is [ˈkleːbə] while Kleid is [klaɪ̯t]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

klebe is recorded at frequency rank #41,281, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkleːbə]. Kleid is at rank #3,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced [klaɪ̯t].

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 45258, this pair ranks #1,359,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of klebe vs Kleid

Shared letters: ekl. Private to "klebe": b. Private to "Kleid": di.

"klebe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Kleid" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klebekelbe · kklebe · klbee · klebbe · kleeb · kllebe · lkebe
  • Kleidkelid · kkleid · kledi · kleidd · klied · klleid · lkeid

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "klebe" and "Kleid" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "klebe" is a verb and "Kleid" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "klebe" or "Kleid" show up more?
"Kleid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,977 in our German list, against #41,281 for "klebe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "klebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kleid" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,359,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "klebe" and "Kleid" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "klebe vs Krebse". 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 #1,359,192 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