ColtvscordWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,990
“Colt” frequency rank
#36,862
“cord” frequency rank
66852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Colt cord
Definition Revolver längliches aus etwas zusammengedrehtes Ding, das beispielsweise als Gürtel getragen wird

Where the eye mixes Colt and cord

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Colt and cord follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Colt
4 ch
cord

Visual trap between Colt and cord

A purely visual mix-up. Colt ([kɔlt]) and cord ([kɔː(r)d]) 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 66852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Colt is recorded at frequency rank #29,990, classified as anoun, pronounced [kɔlt]. cord is at rank #36,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔː(r)d].

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 66852, this pair ranks #559,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Colt vs cord

Shared letters: co. Private to "Colt": lt. Private to "cord": dr.

"Colt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cord" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Colt ← ccolt · clot · collt · coltt · cotl · oclt
  • cord ← ccord · codr · cordd · corrd · crod · ocrd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Colt" and "cord" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kɔlt] versus [kɔː(r)d]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Colt" or "cord"?
"Colt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,990 in our German list, against #36,862 for "cord". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Colt" and "cord" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Colt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cord" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #559,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Colt" and "cord" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carr vs cord". 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 #559,379 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