Which to use
“Krabben” is a noun and “kratzen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,045
- “Krabben” frequency rank
- #15,138
- “kratzen” frequency rank
- 55183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Krabben | kratzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Krabbe | sich mit den Fingernägeln, Krallen oder ähnlichen spitzen, scharfen Dingen, die dazu geeignet sind, einen Abrieb zu verursachen, schaben |
Where the eye mixes Krabben and kratzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Krabben and kratzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Krabben vs kratzen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Krabben is [ˈkʁabn̩] while kratzen is [ˈkʁat͡sn̩]. 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 55183, 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]. kratzen is at rank #15,138, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁat͡sn̩].
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 55183, this pair ranks #989,527 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Krabben vs kratzen
Shared letters: aeknr. Private to "Krabben": b. Private to "kratzen": tz.
"Krabben" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "kratzen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Krabben" and "kratzen" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Krabben" or "kratzen"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Krabben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kratzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #989,527 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Krabben" and "kratzen" 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 #989,527 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.