KrausevskreuzeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,683
“Krause” frequency rank
#13,882
“kreuze” frequency rank
24565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Krause kreuze
Definition welliger oder in Falten gelegter Stoff 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kreuzen

Where the eye mixes Krause and kreuze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Krause
6 ch
kreuze

Why the eye confuses Krause with kreuze

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Krause is [ˈkʁaʊ̯zə] while kreuze is [ˈkʁɔɪ̯t͡sə]. 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 24565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Krause is recorded at frequency rank #10,683, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁaʊ̯zə]. kreuze is at rank #13,882, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁɔɪ̯t͡sə].

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 24565, this pair ranks #1,845,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Krause vs kreuze

Shared letters: ekru. Private to "Krause": as. Private to "kreuze": z.

"Krause" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "kreuze" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Krausekaruse · kkrause · krasue · kraues · krausse · krrause · kruase · rkause
  • kreuzekeruze · kkreuze · kreuez · kreuzze · krezue · krreuze · krueze · rkeuze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Krause" for "kreuze" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Krause" is a noun and "kreuze" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Krause" or "kreuze"?
"Krause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,683 in our German list, against #13,882 for "kreuze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Krause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kreuze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,845,803 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Krause" and "kreuze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Krebse vs kreuze". 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 #1,845,803 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