cockvscoinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,029
“cock” frequency rank
#40,464
“coin” frequency rank
78493
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cock coin
Definition männliches Huhn Winkel, Ecke

Where the eye mixes cock and coin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cock (CVCC) and coin (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
cock
4 ch
coin

Look-alike desk: cock vs coin

A purely visual mix-up. cock ([kɒk]) and coin ([kwɛ̃]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cock is recorded at frequency rank #38,029, classified as anoun, pronounced [kɒk]. coin is at rank #40,464, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kwɛ̃].

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 78493, this pair ranks #237,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cock vs coin

Shared letters: co. Private to "cock": k. Private to "coin": in.

"cock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "coin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cock ← ccock · ccok · cocck · cockk · cokc · occk
  • coin ← ccoin · coinn · coni · ocin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cock" and "coin" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kɒk] versus [kwɛ̃]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cock" vs "coin" - which ranks higher?
"cock" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,029 in our German list, against #40,464 for "coin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cock" and "coin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs coli". 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 #237,137 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