karavskarmaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“kara” and “karma” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,941
“kara” frequency rank
#8,563
“karma” frequency rank
22504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kara karma
Definition A bangle worn by Sikhs, one of the five Ks, to remind them to do God's work. The sum total of a person's actions, which determine the person's next incarnation in samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth.

Letter map: kara vs karma

Shared letters muted; letters that set kara and karma apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
kara
5 ch
karma

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

kara and karma are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kara is recorded at frequency rank #13,941, classified as anoun. karma is at rank #8,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kərm(ə)/.

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 22504, this pair ranks #416,116 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kara vs karma

Shared letters: akr. Private to "kara": -. Private to "karma": m.

"kara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "karma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karaakra · kaar · karra · kkara · kraa
  • karmaakrma · kamra · karam · karmma · karrma · kkarma · krama

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kara" and "karma" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "kara" or "karma"?
"karma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,563 in our English list, against #13,941 for "kara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list