Which to use
“krallen” and “kratzen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,283
- “krallen” frequency rank
- #15,138
- “kratzen” frequency rank
- 34421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | krallen | kratzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich mithilfe der Krallen oder Fingernägel an etwas festhalten | sich mit den Fingernägeln, Krallen oder ähnlichen spitzen, scharfen Dingen, die dazu geeignet sind, einen Abrieb zu verursachen, schaben |
Where the eye mixes krallen and kratzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. krallen and kratzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between krallen and kratzen
A purely visual mix-up. krallen ([ˈkʁalən]) and kratzen ([ˈkʁat͡sn̩]) 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 34421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
krallen is recorded at frequency rank #19,283, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁalən]. 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 34421, this pair ranks #1,663,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of krallen vs kratzen
Shared letters: aeknr. Private to "krallen": l. Private to "kratzen": tz.
"krallen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "kratzen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "krallen" and "kratzen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "krallen" or "kratzen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "krallen" and "kratzen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "krallen" 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 #1,663,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "krallen" and "kratzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "krallen vs Krawallen". 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 #1,663,716 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.