Which to use
“kehren” is a verb and “kühnen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,198
- “kehren” frequency rank
- #38,244
- “kühnen” frequency rank
- 45442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kehren | kühnen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sauber machen, etwas wegfegen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the eye mixes kehren and kühnen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses kehren with kühnen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kehren is [ˈkeːʁən] while kühnen is [ˈkyːnən]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kehren is recorded at frequency rank #7,198, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkeːʁən]. kühnen is at rank #38,244, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkyːnən].
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 45442, this pair ranks #1,352,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of kehren vs kühnen
Shared letters: ehkn. Private to "kehren": r. Private to "kühnen": ü.
"kehren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kühnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kehren ← ekhren · kehern · kehhren · kehrenn · kehrne · kehrren · kerhen · kheren
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "kehren" and "kühnen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "kehren" or "kühnen" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "kehren" and "kühnen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "kehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,352,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kehren" and "kühnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kühnen". 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 #1,352,877 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.