klingvsKriegTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#24,403
“kling” frequency rank
#583
“Krieg” frequency rank
24986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kling Krieg
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klingen bewaffneter Konflikt zwischen mindestens zwei Parteien wie Staaten, ethnischen oder sozialen Gruppen

Where the eye mixes kling and Krieg

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

5 ch
kling
5 ch
Krieg

Look-alike desk: kling vs Krieg

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kling is [klɪŋ] while Krieg is [kʁiːk]. 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 24986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kling is recorded at frequency rank #24,403, classified as averb, pronounced [klɪŋ]. Krieg is at rank #583, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁiːk].

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 24986, this pair ranks #1,839,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kling vs Krieg

Shared letters: gik. Private to "kling": ln. Private to "Krieg": er.

"kling" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Krieg" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klingkilng · kkling · klign · klingg · klinng · klling · klnig · lking
  • Kriegkireg · kkrieg · kreig · kriegg · krige · krrieg · rkieg

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kling" and "Krieg" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kling" is a verb and "Krieg" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kling" or "Krieg"?
"Krieg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #583 in our German list, against #24,403 for "kling". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Krieg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,839,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kling" and "Krieg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kang vs kling". 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 #1,839,769 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