klebevsKneteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,281
“klebe” frequency rank
#32,625
“Knete” frequency rank
73906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature klebe Knete
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kleben formbares, weiches Material zum Basteln und Modellieren; Spielzeug

Where the eye mixes klebe and Knete

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

5 ch
klebe
5 ch
Knete

Look-alike desk: klebe vs Knete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: klebe is [ˈkleːbə] while Knete is [ˈkneːtə]. 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 73906, 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]. Knete is at rank #32,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkneːtə].

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 73906, this pair ranks #347,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of klebe vs Knete

Shared letters: ek. Private to "klebe": bl. Private to "Knete": nt.

"klebe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Knete" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klebekelbe · kklebe · klbee · klebbe · kleeb · kllebe · lkebe
  • Knetekente · kknete · kneet · knette · knnete · kntee · nkete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "klebe" and "Knete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "klebe" is a verb and "Knete" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "klebe" or "Knete"?
"Knete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,625 in our German list, against #41,281 for "klebe". 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 "klebe" and "Knete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "klebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Knete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "klebe" and "Knete" 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 #347,776 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