kochenvskrachenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“kochen” and “krachen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,506
“kochen” frequency rank
#15,413
“krachen” frequency rank
17919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kochen krachen
Definition Lebensmittel unter Einwirkung von Hitze zu einer Mahlzeit zubereiten ein lautes Geräusch von sich geben, wenn jemand/etwas schnell gegen etwas prallt

Where the eye mixes kochen and krachen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
kochen
7 ch
krachen

Visual trap between kochen and krachen

A purely visual mix-up. kochen ([ˈkɔxn̩]) and krachen ([ˈkʁaxn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17919, 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]. krachen is at rank #15,413, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁaxn̩].

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 17919, this pair ranks #1,923,076 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kochen vs krachen

Shared letters: cehkn. Private to "kochen": o. Private to "krachen": ar.

"kochen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "krachen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kochenkcohen · kkochen · kocchen · kocehn · kochenn · kochhen · kochne · kohcen
  • krachenkarchen · kkrachen · kracchen · kracehn · krachenn · krachhen · krachne · krahcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kochen" and "krachen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɔxn̩] versus [ˈkʁaxn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kochen" or "krachen" show up more?
"kochen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,506 in our German list, against #15,413 for "krachen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "kochen" and "krachen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kochen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "krachen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,076 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kochen" and "krachen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kärtchen vs krachen". 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 #1,923,076 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