copsvscoxWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,118
“cops” frequency rank
#20,209
“cox” frequency rank
33327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cops cox
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs cop Cox, Cox Orange, Cox’ Orange

Letter map: cops vs cox

Shared letters muted; letters that set cops and cox apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
cops
3 ch
cox

Grammar separator: cops vs cox

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cops is averb and coxanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cops is recorded at frequency rank #13,118, classified as averb, pronounced […]. cox is at rank #20,209, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔks].

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 33327, this pair ranks #1,688,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cops vs cox

Shared letters: co. Private to "cops": ps. Private to "cox": x.

"cops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • copsccops · copps · copss · cosp · cpos · ocps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cops" for "cox" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cops" is a verb and "cox" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "cops" or "cox" show up more?
"cops" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,118 in our German list, against #20,209 for "cox". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cops" and "cox".

  • Full dictionary entry for "cops" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,688,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cops" and "cox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs cox". 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 #1,688,353 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