krallenvsKrawallenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: krallen is a verb, Krawallen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“krallen” is a verb and “Krawallen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,283
“krallen” frequency rank
#46,088
“Krawallen” frequency rank
65371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature krallen Krawallen
Definition sich mithilfe der Krallen oder Fingernägel an etwas festhalten Dativ Plural des Substantivs Krawall

Where the eye mixes krallen and Krawallen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. krallen runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against Krawallen's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
krallen
9 ch
Krawallen

Visual trap between krallen and Krawallen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: krallen is [ˈkʁalən] while Krawallen is [kʁaˈvalən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65371, 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]. Krawallen is at rank #46,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁaˈvalən].

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 65371, this pair ranks #609,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of krallen vs Krawallen

Shared letters: aeklnr. Private to "krallen": -. Private to "Krawallen": w.

"krallen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Krawallen" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • krallen ← karllen · kkrallen · kraleln · kralen · krallenn · krallne · krlalen · krrallen
  • Krawallen ← karwallen · kkrawallen · kraawllen · krawaleln · krawalen · krawallenn · krawallne · krawlalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "krallen" for "Krawallen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "krallen" is a verb and "Krawallen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "krallen" or "Krawallen" show up more?
"krallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,283 in our German list, against #46,088 for "Krawallen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "krallen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Krawallen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #609,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "krallen" and "Krawallen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Krawallen vs Krawatten". 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 #609,273 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