kochevskölscheWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: koche is a verb, kölsche is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“koche” is a verb and “kölsche” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,672
“koche” frequency rank
#48,293
“kölsche” frequency rank
63965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature koche kölsche
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kochen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kölsch

Where the eye mixes koche and kölsche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. koche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against kölsche's 7 (CVCCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
koche
7 ch
kölsche

Visual trap between koche and kölsche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: koche is [ˈkɔxə] while kölsche is [kœlʃə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

koche is recorded at frequency rank #15,672, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔxə]. kölsche is at rank #48,293, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kœlʃə].

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 63965, this pair ranks #658,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of koche vs kölsche

Shared letters: cehk. Private to "koche": o. Private to "kölsche": lsö.

"koche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kölsche" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • koche ← kcohe · kkoche · kocche · koceh · kochhe · kohce · okche

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "koche" and "kölsche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "koche" is a verb and "kölsche" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "koche" or "kölsche"?
"koche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,672 in our German list, against #48,293 for "kölsche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "koche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kölsche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #658,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "koche" and "kölsche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kölnische vs kölsche". 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 #658,092 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list