KlonvsklonenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,810
“Klon” frequency rank
#40,034
“klonen” frequency rank
67844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Klon klonen
Definition Biologie, Genetik: Gesamtheit aller genetisch identischen Kopien eines Individuums ungeschlechtlich fortpflanzen, zum Beispiel indem man Stecklinge oder Senker setzt

Where the eye mixes Klon and klonen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Klon runs 4 letters (CCVC) against klonen's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Klon
6 ch
klonen

Why the eye confuses Klon with klonen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Klon is [kloːn] while klonen is [ˈkloːnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Klon” sits inside “klonen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Klon is recorded at frequency rank #27,810, classified as anoun, pronounced [kloːn]. klonen is at rank #40,034, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkloːnən].

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 67844, this pair ranks #526,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Klon vs klonen

Shared letters: klno. Private to "Klon": -. Private to "klonen": e.

"Klon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "klonen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Klon ← kklon · kllon · klno · klonn · koln · lkon
  • klonen ← kklonen · kllonen · klnoen · kloenn · klonenn · klonne · klonnen · kolnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Klon" and "klonen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Klon" is a noun and "klonen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Klon" or "klonen" show up more?
"Klon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,810 in our German list, against #40,034 for "klonen". 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 "Klon" and "klonen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Klon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klonen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #526,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Klon" and "klonen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "klonen vs kloppen". 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 #526,998 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