knabbern
[ˈknabɐn]
The verdict
“knabbern” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #31,128 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #31,128
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - kleine, mundgerechte Teile von einem in der Regel harten Nahrungsstück oder ähnlichen Gegenständen abbeißen, essen, daran nagen
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 | knabbern |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈknabɐn] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #31,128 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “knabbern” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for knabbern is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈknabɐn]. Corpus data places it at rank #31,128 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "kleine, mundgerechte Teile von einem in der Regel harten Nahrungsstück oder ähnlichen Gegenständen abbeißen, essen, daran nagen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for knabbern, with forms such as "kanbbern", "kknabbern", and "knabbenr". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Knaben", "Krabben", "krabbeln", 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 knabbern, spelled K-N-A-B-B-E-R-N.
Definition
- 1kleine, mundgerechte Teile von einem in der Regel harten Nahrungsstück oder ähnlichen Gegenständen abbeißen, essen, daran nagen
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: kanbbern,kknabbern,knabbenr,knabbernn,knabberrn,knabbren,knabebrn,knabern,knbabern,knnabbern,nkabbern
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of knabbern - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "knabbern"?
What does "knabbern" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "knabbern"?
How do you pronounce "knabbern"?
What language does "knabbern" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “knabbern”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is K-N-A-B-B-E-R-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈknabɐn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Knaben” - see the side-by-side comparison. knabbern vs Knaben
- 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.