kochenvsKochsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kochen is a verb, Kochs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kochen” is a verb and “Kochs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,506
“kochen” frequency rank
#45,391
“Kochs” frequency rank
47897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kochen Kochs
Definition Lebensmittel unter Einwirkung von Hitze zu einer Mahlzeit zubereiten Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Koch

Where the eye mixes kochen and Kochs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kochen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Kochs's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kochen
5 ch
Kochs

Why the eye confuses kochen with Kochs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kochen is [ˈkɔxn̩] while Kochs is [kɔxs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kochen is recorded at frequency rank #2,506, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔxn̩]. Kochs is at rank #45,391, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔxs].

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 47897, this pair ranks #1,268,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kochen vs Kochs

Shared letters: chko. Private to "kochen": en. Private to "Kochs": s.

"kochen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Kochs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kochen ← kcohen · kkochen · kocchen · kocehn · kochenn · kochhen · kochne · kohcen
  • Kochs ← kcohs · kkochs · kocchs · kochhs · kochss · kocsh · kohcs · okchs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kochen" for "Kochs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kochen" is a verb and "Kochs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kochen" or "Kochs" show up more?
"kochen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,506 in our German list, against #45,391 for "Kochs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "kochen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kochs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,268,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kochen" and "Kochs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kochs vs kroch". 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 #1,268,052 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