KreisvsKremsTell them apart

Quick tell: Kreis is a noun, Krems is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Kreis” is a noun and “Krems” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#861
“Kreis” frequency rank
#22,804
“Krems” frequency rank
23665
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kreis Krems
Definition geometrischer Ort aller Punkte, die von einem gegebenen Punkt, dem (Kreis-)Mittelpunkt, den gleichen Abstand haben, genannt (Kreis-)Radius Krems an der Donau; Stadtgemeinde in Niederösterreich

Where the eye mixes Kreis and Krems

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kreis (CCVVC) and Krems (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Kreis
5 ch
Krems

Look-alike desk: Kreis vs Krems

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kreis is [kʁaɪ̯s] while Krems is [kʁɛms]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “Kreis” becomes m in “Krems”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kreis is recorded at frequency rank #861, classified as anoun, pronounced [kʁaɪ̯s]. Krems is at rank #22,804, tagged as aname, pronounced [kʁɛms].

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 23665, this pair ranks #1,858,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kreis vs Krems

Shared letters: ekrs. Private to "Kreis": i. Private to "Krems": m.

"Kreis" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Krems" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kreiskeris · kkreis · kreiss · kresi · kries · krreis · rkeis
  • Kremskerms · kkrems · kremms · kremss · kresm · krmes · krrems · rkems

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kreis" and "Krems" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kreis" is a noun and "Krems" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kreis" or "Krems"?
"Kreis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #861 in our German list, against #22,804 for "Krems". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kreis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Krems" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,858,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kreis" and "Krems" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Krebse vs Krems". 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 #1,858,263 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