countervscountyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,500
“counter” frequency rank
#12,256
“county” frequency rank
37756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature counter county
Definition Schalter historisch, die Grafschaft

Letter map: counter vs county

Shared letters muted; letters that set counter and county apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
counter
6 ch
county

Corpus notes: counter and county

counter and county 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

counter is recorded at frequency rank #25,500, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. county is at rank #12,256, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʊnti].

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 37756, this pair ranks #1,581,846 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of counter vs county

Shared letters: cnotu. Private to "counter": er. Private to "county": y.

"counter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "county" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • counterccounter · conuter · counetr · counnter · counterr · countre · countter · coutner
  • countyccounty · conuty · counnty · countty · countyy · counyt · coutny · cuonty

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "counter" and "county" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "counter" vs "county" - which ranks higher?
"county" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,256 in our German list, against #25,500 for "counter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "counter" and "county". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "counter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "county" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,581,846 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "counter" and "county" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "counter vs puzzles". 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 #1,581,846 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