klonenvsKrötenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#40,034
“klonen” frequency rank
#29,203
“Kröten” frequency rank
69237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature klonen Kröten
Definition ungeschlechtlich fortpflanzen, zum Beispiel indem man Stecklinge oder Senker setzt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kröte

Where the eye mixes klonen and Kröten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. klonen and Kröten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
klonen
6 ch
Kröten

Look-alike desk: klonen vs Kröten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: klonen is [ˈkloːnən] while Kröten is [ˈkʁøːtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 69237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

klonen is recorded at frequency rank #40,034, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkloːnən]. Kröten is at rank #29,203, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁøːtn̩].

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 69237, this pair ranks #482,748 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of klonen vs Kröten

Shared letters: ekn. Private to "klonen": lo. Private to "Kröten": rtö.

"klonen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Kröten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • klonenkklonen · kllonen · klnoen · kloenn · klonenn · klonne · klonnen · kolnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "klonen" and "Kröten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "klonen" is a verb and "Kröten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "klonen" vs "Kröten" - which ranks higher?
"Kröten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,203 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "klonen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kröten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #482,748 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "klonen" and "Kröten" 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 #482,748 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