coinvscostWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,464
“coin” frequency rank
#27,668
“cost” frequency rank
68132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coin cost
Definition Winkel, Ecke Kosten

Letter map: coin vs cost

Shared letters muted; letters that set coin and cost apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
coin
4 ch
cost

Spelling & dictionary notes on coin vs cost

coin and cost 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coin is recorded at frequency rank #40,464, classified as anoun, pronounced [kwɛ̃]. cost is at rank #27,668, 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 68132, this pair ranks #517,663 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coin vs cost

Shared letters: co. Private to "coin": in. Private to "cost": st.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coinccoin · coinn · coni · ocin
  • costccost · cosst · costt · cots · csot · ocst

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coin" for "cost" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "coin" vs "cost" - which ranks higher?
"cost" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,668 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.

What to do next

Pair "coin" vs "cost" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #517,663 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coin" and "cost" 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 #517,663 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