Which to use
“Kaste” is a noun and “koste” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,378
- “Kaste” frequency rank
- #22,800
- “koste” frequency rank
- 68178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kaste | koste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | geschlossene Gesellschaftsschicht innerhalb einer (insbesondere der hinduistischen) Gesellschaftsordnung | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kosen |
Where the eye mixes Kaste and koste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kaste and koste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Kaste and koste
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kaste is [ˈkastə] while koste is [ˈkoːstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Kaste” becomes o in “koste”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Kaste is recorded at frequency rank #45,378, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkastə]. koste is at rank #22,800, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkoːstə].
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 68178, this pair ranks #516,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Kaste vs koste
Shared letters: ekst. Private to "Kaste": a. Private to "koste": o.
"Kaste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "koste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Kaste" for "koste" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Kaste" or "koste" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Kaste" and "koste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Kaste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "koste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Kaste" and "koste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kaste". 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 #516,214 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.