KrabbenvsKräftenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,045
“Krabben” frequency rank
#7,496
“Kräften” frequency rank
47541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Krabben Kräften
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Krabbe Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kraft

Where the eye mixes Krabben and Kräften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Krabben and Kräften follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Krabben
7 ch
Kräften

Why the eye confuses Krabben with Kräften

A purely visual mix-up. Krabben ([ˈkʁabn̩]) and Kräften ([ˈkʁɛftn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Krabben is recorded at frequency rank #40,045, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁabn̩]. Kräften is at rank #7,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁɛftn̩].

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 47541, this pair ranks #1,280,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Krabben vs Kräften

Shared letters: eknr. Private to "Krabben": ab. Private to "Kräften": ftä.

"Krabben" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Kräften" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Krabben ← karbben · kkrabben · krabbenn · krabbne · krabebn · kraben · krbaben · krrabben

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Krabben" and "Kräften" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʁabn̩] versus [ˈkʁɛftn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Krabben" or "Kräften"?
"Kräften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,496 in our German list, against #40,045 for "Krabben". 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 "Krabben" and "Kräften" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Krabben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kräften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,280,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Krabben" and "Kräften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Krabben vs Kraken". 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 #1,280,684 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