kamvsKoiWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#274
“kam” frequency rank
#46,782
“Koi” frequency rank
47056
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kam Koi
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kommen japanische Zuchtform des Karpfens

Where the eye mixes kam and Koi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
kam
3 ch
Koi

Visual trap between kam and Koi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kam is [kaːm] while Koi is [kɔɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kam is recorded at frequency rank #274, classified as averb, pronounced [kaːm]. Koi is at rank #46,782, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔɪ̯].

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 47056, this pair ranks #1,297,686 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kam vs Koi

Shared letters: k. Private to "kam": am. Private to "Koi": io.

"kam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Koi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kam" and "Koi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kam" is a verb and "Koi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kam" or "Koi" show up more?
"kam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #274 in our German list, against #46,782 for "Koi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Koi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,297,686 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kam" and "Koi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Koi vs kola". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,297,686 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