kunvsKundeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kun is a preposition, Kunde is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kun” is a preposition and “Kunde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,882
“kun” frequency rank
#2,981
“Kunde” frequency rank
38863
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kun Kunde
Definition mit jemand, der bei einem bestimmten Geschäft einkauft; der Käufer einer Ware; derjenige, der eine Dienstleistung in Anspruch nimmt; jeder, der für etwas zahlt (auch wenn die Leistung an einen Dritten geht)

Where the eye mixes kun and Kunde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kun runs 3 letters (CVC) against Kunde's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
kun
5 ch
Kunde

Look-alike desk: kun vs Kunde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kun is [kun] while Kunde is [ˈkʊndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “kun” sits inside “Kunde”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38863, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kun is recorded at frequency rank #35,882, classified as aprep, pronounced [kun]. Kunde is at rank #2,981, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʊndə].

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 38863, this pair ranks #1,552,634 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kun vs Kunde

Shared letters: knu. Private to "kun": -. Private to "Kunde": de.

"kun" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Kunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kunde ← kkunde · knude · kudne · kundde · kuned · kunnde · uknde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kun" for "Kunde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kun" is a preposition and "Kunde" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kun" vs "Kunde" - which ranks higher?
"Kunde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,981 in our German list, against #35,882 for "kun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kunde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,552,634 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kun" and "Kunde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Koi vs kun". 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 #1,552,634 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