kautvskotConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,771
“kaut” frequency rank
#17,056
“kot” frequency rank
63827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kaut kot
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kauen Katze, Kater (Felis silvestris)

Where the eye mixes kaut and kot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kaut runs 4 letters (CVVC) against kot's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
kaut
3 ch
kot

Visual trap between kaut and kot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kaut is [kaʊ̯t] while kot is [kɔt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kaut is recorded at frequency rank #46,771, classified as averb, pronounced [kaʊ̯t]. kot is at rank #17,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔt].

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 63827, this pair ranks #662,940 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kaut vs kot

Shared letters: kt. Private to "kaut": au. Private to "kot": o.

"kaut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "kot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kaut ← katu · kautt · kkaut · kuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kaut" and "kot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kaut" is a verb and "kot" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kaut" or "kot" show up more?
"kot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,056 in our German list, against #46,771 for "kaut". 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 "kaut" and "kot" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #662,940 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kaut" and "kot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kaut vs kräht". 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 #662,940 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