krankenvsKränzeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,507
“kranken” frequency rank
#43,309
“Kränze” frequency rank
48816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kranken Kränze
Definition intransitiv, mit der Präposition an, Hilfsverb haben: Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kranz

Where the eye mixes kranken and Kränze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kranken runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against Kränze's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
kranken
6 ch
Kränze

Look-alike desk: kranken vs Kränze

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kranken is [ˈkʁaŋkn̩] while Kränze is [ˈkʁɛnt͡sə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 48816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kranken is recorded at frequency rank #5,507, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁaŋkn̩]. Kränze is at rank #43,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁɛnt͡sə].

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 48816, this pair ranks #1,234,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kranken vs Kränze

Shared letters: eknr. Private to "kranken": a. Private to "Kränze": zä.

"kranken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Kränze" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kranken ← karnken · kkranken · kraknen · kranekn · krankenn · krankken · krankne · krannken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kranken" and "Kränze" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kranken" is a verb and "Kränze" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kranken" or "Kränze" show up more?
"kranken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,507 in our German list, against #43,309 for "Kränze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kranken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kränze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,234,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kranken" and "Kränze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kränze vs Krätze". 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 #1,234,571 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