keckvsKochWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: keck is a adjective, Koch is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“keck” is an adjective and “Koch” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,143
“keck” frequency rank
#2,902
“Koch” frequency rank
36045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keck Koch
Definition auf eine angenehme, ansprechende Art und Weise frech, respektlos oder vorlaut Berufsbezeichnung für eine (männliche^☆) Person, die Speisen zubereitet

Where the eye mixes keck and Koch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. keck and Koch follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
keck
4 ch
Koch

Visual trap between keck and Koch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keck is [kɛk] while Koch is [kɔx]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keck is recorded at frequency rank #33,143, classified as anadj, pronounced [kɛk]. Koch is at rank #2,902, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔx].

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 36045, this pair ranks #1,625,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of keck vs Koch

Shared letters: ck. Private to "keck": e. Private to "Koch": ho.

"keck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Koch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keckekck · kcek · kecck · keckk · kekc · kkeck
  • Kochkcoh · kkoch · kocch · kochh · kohc · okch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "keck" for "Koch" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "keck" is an adjective and "Koch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "keck" or "Koch" show up more?
"Koch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,902 in our German list, against #33,143 for "keck". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "keck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Koch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,625,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keck" and "Koch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keck vs kickt". 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 #1,625,328 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