kompaktevsKontakteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kompakte is a adjective, Kontakte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kompakte” is an adjective and “Kontakte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,798
“kompakte” frequency rank
#3,330
“Kontakte” frequency rank
26128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kompakte Kontakte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kompakt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kontakt

Where the eye mixes kompakte and Kontakte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. kompakte and Kontakte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
kompakte
8 ch
Kontakte

Why the eye confuses kompakte with Kontakte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kompakte is [kɔmˈpaktə] while Kontakte is [kɔnˈtaktə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kompakte is recorded at frequency rank #22,798, classified as anadj, pronounced [kɔmˈpaktə]. Kontakte is at rank #3,330, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔnˈtaktə].

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 26128, this pair ranks #1,822,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kompakte vs Kontakte

Shared letters: aekot. Private to "kompakte": mp. Private to "Kontakte": n.

"kompakte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "Kontakte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kompakte ← kkompakte · kmopakte · komapkte · kommpakte · kompaket · kompakkte · kompaktte · kompatke
  • Kontakte ← kkontakte · knotakte · konatkte · konntakte · kontaket · kontakkte · kontaktte · kontatke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kompakte" and "Kontakte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kompakte" is an adjective and "Kontakte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kompakte" or "Kontakte" show up more?
"Kontakte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,330 in our German list, against #22,798 for "kompakte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kompakte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kontakte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,822,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kompakte" and "Kontakte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kompakte vs kompakter". 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 #1,822,720 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