Which to use
“kalt” is an adjective and “kühlt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,306
- “kalt” frequency rank
- #29,208
- “kühlt” frequency rank
- 31514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kalt | kühlt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine niedrige Temperatur habend; von/mit niedriger Temperatur; nicht (mehr) heiß | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kühlen |
Where the eye mixes kalt and kühlt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kalt runs 4 letters (CVCC) against kühlt's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between kalt and kühlt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kalt is [kalt] while kühlt is [kyːlt]. 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 31514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kalt is recorded at frequency rank #2,306, classified as anadj, pronounced [kalt]. kühlt is at rank #29,208, tagged as averb, pronounced [kyːlt].
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 31514, this pair ranks #1,726,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kalt vs kühlt
Shared letters: klt. Private to "kalt": a. Private to "kühlt": hü.
"kalt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "kühlt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kalt ← aklt · kallt · kaltt · katl · kkalt · klat
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "kalt" and "kühlt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "kalt" or "kühlt" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "kalt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühlt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,726,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kalt" and "kühlt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "killt vs kühlt". 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 #1,726,561 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.