KassenvsküssenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,743
“Kassen” frequency rank
#6,445
“küssen” frequency rank
16188
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kassen küssen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kasse mit den Lippen eine andere Person oder einen Gegenstand berühren, zum Zeichen der Liebe oder Verehrung; einen Kuss geben

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Kassen and küssen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Kassen
6 ch
küssen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kassen is [ˈkasn̩] while küssen is [ˈkʏsn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Kassen” becomes ü in “küssen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kassen is recorded at frequency rank #9,743, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkasn̩]. küssen is at rank #6,445, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʏsn̩].

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 16188, this pair ranks #1,937,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kassen vs küssen

Shared letters: ekns. Private to "Kassen": a. Private to "küssen": ü.

"Kassen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "küssen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kassenakssen · kasen · kasesn · kassenn · kassne · kaßen · kkassen · ksasen

Frequency comparison

Kassen#9,743
küssen#6,445

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kassen" and "küssen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kassen" is a noun and "küssen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kassen" or "küssen"?
"küssen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,445 in our German list, against #9,743 for "Kassen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Kassen vs küssen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Kassen”; for a verb, it's “küssen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Kassen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list