krochvsKröteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#46,790
“kroch” frequency rank
#33,158
“Kröte” frequency rank
79948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kroch Kröte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs krauchen dem Frosch ähnliche, kurzbeinige, springende Amphibie mit plumpem Körper und warzenbedeckter, Giftstoffe absondernder Haut

Where the eye mixes kroch and Kröte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kroch (CCVCC) and Kröte (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
kroch
5 ch
Kröte

Why the eye confuses kroch with Kröte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kroch is [kʁɔx] while Kröte is [ˈkʁøːtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kroch is recorded at frequency rank #46,790, classified as averb, pronounced [kʁɔx]. Kröte is at rank #33,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʁøːtə].

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 79948, this pair ranks #205,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kroch vs Kröte

Shared letters: kr. Private to "kroch": cho. Private to "Kröte": etö.

"kroch" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Kröte" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kroch ← kkroch · korch · krcoh · krocch · krochh · krohc · krroch · rkoch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kroch" for "Kröte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kroch" is a verb and "Kröte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kroch" vs "Kröte" - which ranks higher?
"Kröte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,158 in our German list, against #46,790 for "kroch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kroch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kröte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #205,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kroch" and "Kröte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kroch vs krönt". 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 #205,730 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