KränzevskratzenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,309
“Kränze” frequency rank
#15,138
“kratzen” frequency rank
58447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kränze kratzen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kranz sich mit den Fingernägeln, Krallen oder ähnlichen spitzen, scharfen Dingen, die dazu geeignet sind, einen Abrieb zu verursachen, schaben

Where the eye mixes Kränze and kratzen

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

6 ch
Kränze
7 ch
kratzen

Look-alike desk: Kränze vs kratzen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kränze is [ˈkʁɛnt͡sə] while kratzen is [ˈkʁat͡sn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kränze is recorded at frequency rank #43,309, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁɛnt͡sə]. 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 58447, this pair ranks #862,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kränze vs kratzen

Shared letters: eknrz. Private to "Kränze": ä. Private to "kratzen": at.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kratzen ← kartzen · kkratzen · kratezn · krattzen · kratzenn · kratzne · kratzzen · krazten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kränze" and "kratzen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kränze" is a noun and "kratzen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Kränze" or "kratzen" show up more?
"kratzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,138 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Kränze" and "kratzen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kränze" 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 #862,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kränze" and "kratzen" 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 #862,427 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