KöpfevsKörbeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,006
“Köpfe” frequency rank
#29,667
“Körbe” frequency rank
34673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Köpfe Körbe
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kopf Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Korb

Where the eye mixes Köpfe and Körbe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Köpfe 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
Köpfe
5 ch
Körbe

Why the eye confuses Köpfe with Körbe

A purely visual mix-up. Köpfe ([ˈkœp͡fə]) and Körbe ([ˈkœʁbə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Köpfe is recorded at frequency rank #5,006, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkœp͡fə]. 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 34673, this pair ranks #1,657,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Köpfe vs Körbe

Shared letters: ekö. Private to "Köpfe": fp. Private to "Körbe": br.

"Köpfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Körbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Köpfe" for "Körbe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkœp͡fə] versus [ˈkœʁbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Köpfe" or "Körbe" show up more?
"Köpfe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,006 in our German list, against #29,667 for "Körbe". 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 "Köpfe" and "Körbe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Köpfe" 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 #1,657,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Köpfe" and "Körbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kölle vs Körbe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,657,927 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