KontervskonternWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,054
“Konter” frequency rank
#29,197
“kontern” frequency rank
46251
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Konter kontern
Definition schnell ausgeführter Gegenangriff der in die Defensive geratenen Mannschaft eine Rede oder Maßnahme mit Gegenrede oder -maßnahmen beantworten

Where the eye mixes Konter and kontern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Konter runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against kontern's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Konter
7 ch
kontern

Visual trap between Konter and kontern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Konter is [ˈkɔntɐ] while kontern is [ˈkɔntɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Konter” sits inside “kontern”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Konter is recorded at frequency rank #17,054, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔntɐ]. kontern is at rank #29,197, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔntɐn].

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 46251, this pair ranks #1,325,531 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Konter vs kontern

Shared letters: eknort. Private to "Konter": -. Private to "kontern": -.

"Konter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kontern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Konter ← kkonter · knoter · konetr · konnter · konterr · kontre · kontter · kotner
  • kontern ← kkontern · knotern · konetrn · konntern · kontenr · konternn · konterrn · kontren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Konter" and "kontern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Konter" is a noun and "kontern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Konter" or "kontern" show up more?
"Konter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,054 in our German list, against #29,197 for "kontern". 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 "Konter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kontern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,325,531 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Konter" and "kontern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kontern vs Kontur". 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 #1,325,531 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