Which to use
“Krabben” is a noun and “kranken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,045
- “Krabben” frequency rank
- #5,507
- “kranken” frequency rank
- 45552
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Krabben | kranken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Krabbe | intransitiv, mit der Präposition an, Hilfsverb haben: |
Where the eye mixes Krabben and kranken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Krabben and kranken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Krabben with kranken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Krabben is [ˈkʁabn̩] while kranken is [ˈkʁaŋkn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45552, 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]. kranken is at rank #5,507, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁaŋkn̩].
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 45552, this pair ranks #1,349,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Krabben vs kranken
Shared letters: aeknr. Private to "Krabben": b. Private to "kranken": -.
"Krabben" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "kranken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Krabben" and "kranken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Krabben" vs "kranken" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Krabben" and "kranken" 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 "kranken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,349,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Krabben" and "kranken" 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 #1,349,175 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.