Which to use
“killen” and “kühlen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,268
- “killen” frequency rank
- #10,125
- “kühlen” frequency rank
- 45393
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | killen | kühlen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | töten | kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern |
Where the eye mixes killen and kühlen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: killen vs kühlen
A purely visual mix-up. killen ([ˈkɪlən]) and kühlen ([ˈkyːlən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
killen is recorded at frequency rank #35,268, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɪlən]. kühlen is at rank #10,125, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkyːlən].
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 45393, this pair ranks #1,354,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of killen vs kühlen
Shared letters: ekln. Private to "killen": i. Private to "kühlen": hü.
"killen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- killen ← ikllen · kileln · kilen · killenn · killne · kkillen · klilen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "killen" for "kühlen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "killen" vs "kühlen" - 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 "killen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,354,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "killen" and "kühlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "killen vs Kölle". 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 #1,354,556 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.