Which to use
“keinen” is an unknown and “kühnen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #235
- “keinen” frequency rank
- #38,244
- “kühnen” frequency rank
- 38479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keinen | kühnen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens keiner | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the eye mixes keinen and kühnen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. keinen (CVVCVC) and kühnen (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: keinen vs kühnen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keinen is [ˈkaɪ̯nən] 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 (unknown vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keinen is recorded at frequency rank #235, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈkaɪ̯nən]. 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 38479, this pair ranks #1,562,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of keinen vs kühnen
Shared letters: ekn. Private to "keinen": i. Private to "kühnen": hü.
"keinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "kühnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- keinen ← ekinen · keienn · keinenn · keinnen · kenien · kienen · kkeinen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "keinen" for "kühnen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "keinen" vs "kühnen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "keinen" 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 #1,562,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "keinen" 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 #1,562,885 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.