kleidenvsKreideWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,199
“kleiden” frequency rank
#18,959
“Kreide” frequency rank
42158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleiden Kreide
Definition mit Kleidung versehen weicher, weißer Kalkstein (Hauptbestandteil Kalziumkarbonat)

Where the eye mixes kleiden and Kreide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kleiden runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against Kreide's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
kleiden
6 ch
Kreide

Visual trap between kleiden and Kreide

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kleiden is [ˈklaɪ̯dn̩] while Kreide is [ˈkʁaɪ̯də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleiden is recorded at frequency rank #23,199, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯dn̩]. Kreide is at rank #18,959, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁaɪ̯də].

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 42158, this pair ranks #1,457,855 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kleiden vs Kreide

Shared letters: deik. Private to "kleiden": ln. Private to "Kreide": r.

"kleiden" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "Kreide" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleiden ← keliden · kkleiden · kledien · kleidden · kleidenn · kleidne · kleiedn · klieden
  • Kreide ← keride · kkreide · kredie · kreidde · kreied · kriede · krreide · rkeide

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kleiden" for "Kreide" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kleiden" is a verb and "Kreide" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kleiden" or "Kreide" show up more?
"Kreide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,959 in our German list, against #23,199 for "kleiden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kreide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,457,855 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleiden" and "Kreide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleiden vs kneifen". 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 #1,457,855 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