cookvskuckWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cook is a noun, kuck is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cook” is a noun and “kuck” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,594
“cook” frequency rank
#41,299
“kuck” frequency rank
56893
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cook kuck
Definition Koch, Köchin 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kucken

Same sound, different letters: cook vs kuck

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.

4 ch
cook
4 ch
kuck

Homophone desk: cook vs kuck

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: cook and kuck carry the same recorded pronunciation, [kʊk]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cook is recorded at frequency rank #15,594, classified as anoun, pronounced [kʊk]. kuck is at rank #41,299, tagged as averb, pronounced [kʊk].

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 56893, this pair ranks #922,651 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cook vs kuck

Shared letters: ck. Private to "cook": o. Private to "kuck": u.

"cook" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "kuck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cookccook · cok · coko · cookk · ocok
  • kuckkcuk · kkuck · kucck · kuckk · kukc · ukck

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cook" and "kuck" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cook" is a noun and "kuck" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "cook" or "kuck" show up more?
"cook" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,594 in our German list, against #41,299 for "kuck". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cook" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kuck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #922,651 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cook" and "kuck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kuck vs kucken". 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 #922,651 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