Which to use
“known” is a verb and “Köln” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,645
- “known” frequency rank
- #704
- “Köln” frequency rank
- 41349
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | known | Köln |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs know | Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, viertgrößte Stadt Deutschlands, gelegen am Rhein |
Letter map: known vs Köln
Shared letters muted; letters that set known and Köln apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: known vs Köln
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: known is averb and Kölnaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
known is recorded at frequency rank #40,645, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Köln is at rank #704, tagged as aname, pronounced [kœln].
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 41349, this pair ranks #1,482,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of known vs Köln
Shared letters: kn. Private to "known": ow. Private to "Köln": lö.
"known" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "Köln" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- known ← kknown · knnown · knonw · knownn · knowwn · knwon · konwn · nkown
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "known" for "Köln" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "known" or "Köln" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "known" vs "Köln" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "known" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Köln" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,482,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "known" and "Köln" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "known vs puzzles". 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 #1,482,105 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.