KönigvsKönigeConfusable pair

Which to use

“König” and “Könige” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#816
“König” frequency rank
#6,823
“Könige” frequency rank
7639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature König Könige
Definition höchster oder historisch hoher (nach dem Kaiser) monarchischer Würdenträger eines Staates, eines Königreiches; Namensbestandteil von Titelbezeichnungen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs König

Where the eye mixes König and Könige

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

5 ch
König
6 ch
Könige

Visual trap between König and Könige

A purely visual mix-up. König ([ˈkøːnɪç]) and Könige ([ˈkøːnɪɡə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “König” sits inside “Könige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

König is recorded at frequency rank #816, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪç]. Könige is at rank #6,823, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪɡə].

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 7639, this pair ranks #1,987,447 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of König vs Könige

Shared letters: giknö. Private to "König": -. Private to "Könige": e.

"König" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Könige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "König" and "Könige" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkøːnɪç] versus [ˈkøːnɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "König" or "Könige"?
"König" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #816 in our German list, against #6,823 for "Könige". 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 "König" and "Könige" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "König" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Könige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,987,447 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "König" and "Könige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kantig vs König". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,987,447 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