Kapitän
[kapiˈtɛːn]
The verdict
“Kapitän” has 10 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #3,324. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,324
- frequency rank, German
- 55,078
- “K” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - oberste Kommandoinstanz an Bord eines Schiffes
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Kapitän |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [kapiˈtɛːn] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,324 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Kapitän” sits in German frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around Kapitän (IPA [kapiˈtɛːn]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,324 among 55,078 “K” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Kapitän, with forms such as "akpitän", "kaiptän", and "kapitnä". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "Kaplan", "Kapitel", "Kapitol", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Kapitän, spelled K-A-P-I-T-Ä-N.
Definition
- 1oberste Kommandoinstanz an Bord eines Schiffes
- 2Kurzform für die Dienstgrade Kapitän zur See, Fregattenkapitän, Korvettenkapitän
- 3gewerbliche Schiffsführer
- 4Inhaber eines Kapitänspatentes
- 5verantwortlicher Luftfahrzeugführer eines Verkehrsflugzeugs
- 6Teamchef einer Mannschaft
- 7altes Opel-Automodell
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: akpitän,kaiptän,kapitnä,kapittän,kapitänn,kapiätn,kappitän,kaptiän,kkapitän,kpaitän
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Kapitän - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Kapitän"?
What does "Kapitän" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Kapitän"?
How do you pronounce "Kapitän"?
What language does "Kapitän" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Kapitän”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is K-A-P-I-T-Ä-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [kapiˈtɛːn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Kaplan” - see the side-by-side comparison. Kapitän vs Kaplan
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Same frequency band
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.