closevscoreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“close” and “core” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,880
“close” frequency rank
#15,059
“core” frequency rank
35939
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature close core
Definition die Sackgasse Kern

Letter map: close vs core

Shared letters muted; letters that set close and core apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
close
4 ch
core

Corpus notes: close and core

close and core are indexed as a confusable German 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 35939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

close is recorded at frequency rank #20,880, classified as anoun, pronounced [kləʊz]. core is at rank #15,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 35939, this pair ranks #1,627,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of close vs core

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "close": ls. Private to "core": r.

"close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "core" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • closecclose · cllose · cloes · closse · clsoe · colse · lcose
  • coreccore · coer · corre · croe · ocre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "close" and "core" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
In ordinary German text, does "close" or "core" show up more?
"core" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,059 in our German list, against #20,880 for "close". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "close" and "core".

  • Full dictionary entry for "close" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "core" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,627,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "close" and "core" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clock vs close". 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 #1,627,864 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