KöchinvskochteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#22,047
“Köchin” frequency rank
#37,022
“kochte” frequency rank
59069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Köchin kochte
Definition weibliche Person, die berufsmäßig Speisen zubereitet 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kochen

Where the eye mixes Köchin and kochte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Köchin (CVCCVC) and kochte (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Köchin
6 ch
kochte

Why the eye confuses Köchin with kochte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Köchin is [ˈkœçɪn] while kochte is [ˈkɔxtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Köchin is recorded at frequency rank #22,047, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkœçɪn]. kochte is at rank #37,022, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔxtə].

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 59069, this pair ranks #838,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Köchin vs kochte

Shared letters: chk. Private to "Köchin": inö. Private to "kochte": eot.

"Köchin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kochte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kochte ← kcohte · kkochte · kocchte · kochet · kochhte · kochtte · kocthe · kohcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Köchin" and "kochte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Köchin" is a noun and "kochte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Köchin" or "kochte" show up more?
"Köchin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,047 in our German list, against #37,022 for "kochte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Köchin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kochte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #838,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Köchin" and "kochte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kochs vs kochte". 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 #838,528 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