könnevsKörbeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,423
“könne” frequency rank
#29,667
“Körbe” frequency rank
31090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature könne Körbe
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs können Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Korb

Where the eye mixes könne and Körbe

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

5 ch
könne
5 ch
Körbe

Visual trap between könne and Körbe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: könne is [ˈkœnə] while Körbe is [ˈkœʁbə]. 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 31090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

könne is recorded at frequency rank #1,423, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkœnə]. Körbe is at rank #29,667, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkœʁbə].

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 31090, this pair ranks #1,734,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of könne vs Körbe

Shared letters: ekö. Private to "könne": n. Private to "Körbe": br.

"könne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Körbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "könne" and "Körbe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "könne" is a verb and "Körbe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "könne" or "Körbe" show up more?
"könne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,423 in our German list, against #29,667 for "Körbe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "könne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Körbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,734,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "könne" and "Körbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kölle vs Körbe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,734,991 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