catastrophe
[ka.tas.tʁɔf]
The verdict
“catastrophe” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Katastrophe
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | catastrophe |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ka.tas.tʁɔf] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “catastrophe” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for catastrophe is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ka.tas.tʁɔf]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Katastrophe".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for catastrophe, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is catastrophe, spelled C-A-T-A-S-T-R-O-P-H-E.
Definition
- 1Katastrophe
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “catastrophe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is C-A-T-A-S-T-R-O-P-H-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ka.tas.tʁɔf] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.