gehorchtvsgekochtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gehorcht is a verb, gekocht is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gehorcht” is a verb and “gekocht” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,072
“gehorcht” frequency rank
#7,614
“gekocht” frequency rank
40686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehorcht gekocht
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehorchen unter Einwirkung von Hitze zu einer Mahlzeit zubereitet

Where the eye mixes gehorcht and gekocht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gehorcht runs 8 letters (CVCVCCCC) against gekocht's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gehorcht
7 ch
gekocht

Why the eye confuses gehorcht with gekocht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehorcht is [ɡəˈhɔʁçt] while gekocht is [ɡəˈkɔxt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehorcht is recorded at frequency rank #33,072, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔʁçt]. gekocht is at rank #7,614, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈkɔxt].

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 40686, this pair ranks #1,501,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gehorcht vs gekocht

Shared letters: ceghot. Private to "gehorcht": r. Private to "gekocht": k.

"gehorcht" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCC  ·  "gekocht" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehorcht ← eghorcht · gehhorcht · gehocrht · gehorccht · gehorchht · gehorchtt · gehorcth · gehorhct
  • gekocht ← egkocht · gekcoht · gekkocht · gekoccht · gekochht · gekochtt · gekocth · gekohct

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gehorcht" and "gekocht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehorcht" is a verb and "gekocht" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gehorcht" or "gekocht" show up more?
"gekocht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,614 in our German list, against #33,072 for "gehorcht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehorcht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gekocht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,501,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehorcht" and "gekocht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geforscht vs gehorcht". 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 #1,501,347 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