gekochtvsgelöschtTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,614
“gekocht” frequency rank
#3,041
“gelöscht” frequency rank
10655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gekocht gelöscht
Definition unter Einwirkung von Hitze zu einer Mahlzeit zubereitet Partizip Perfekt des Verbs löschen

Where the eye mixes gekocht and gelöscht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gekocht runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against gelöscht's 8 (CVCVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gekocht
8 ch
gelöscht

Visual trap between gekocht and gelöscht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gekocht is [ɡəˈkɔxt] while gelöscht is [ɡəˈlœʃt]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gekocht is recorded at frequency rank #7,614, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈkɔxt]. gelöscht is at rank #3,041, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlœʃt].

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 10655, this pair ranks #1,974,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gekocht vs gelöscht

Shared letters: ceght. Private to "gekocht": ko. Private to "gelöscht": lsö.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gekocht ← egkocht · gekcoht · gekkocht · gekoccht · gekochht · gekochtt · gekocth · gekohct

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gekocht" for "gelöscht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gekocht" is an adjective and "gelöscht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gekocht" or "gelöscht" show up more?
"gelöscht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,041 in our German list, against #7,614 for "gekocht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gekocht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelöscht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,974,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gekocht" and "gelöscht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gekickt vs gekocht". 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 #1,974,021 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