Which to use
“kicken” and “kucken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,270
- “kicken” frequency rank
- #49,848
- “kucken” frequency rank
- 78118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kicken | kucken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas oder jemanden treten | seine Augen auf etwas richten |
Where the eye mixes kicken and kucken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kicken and kucken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: kicken vs kucken
A purely visual mix-up. kicken ([ˈkɪkn̩]) and kucken ([ˈkʊkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “kicken” becomes u in “kucken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kicken is recorded at frequency rank #28,270, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɪkn̩]. kucken is at rank #49,848, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʊkn̩].
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 78118, this pair ranks #245,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of kicken vs kucken
Shared letters: cekn. Private to "kicken": i. Private to "kucken": u.
"kicken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kucken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kicken" for "kucken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "kicken" vs "kucken" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "kicken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kucken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kicken" and "kucken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kraken vs kucken". 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 #245,414 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.