kochtvsKohlWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,229
“kocht” frequency rank
#7,201
“Kohl” frequency rank
16430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kocht Kohl
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kochen zu den Kreuzblütengewächsen (Brassicaceae) gehörende Gemüsepflanze (Brassica oleracea)

Where the eye mixes kocht and Kohl

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
kocht
4 ch
Kohl

Look-alike desk: kocht vs Kohl

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kocht is [kɔxt] while Kohl is [koːl]. 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 16430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kocht is recorded at frequency rank #9,229, classified as averb, pronounced [kɔxt]. Kohl is at rank #7,201, tagged as anoun, pronounced [koːl].

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 16430, this pair ranks #1,935,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kocht vs Kohl

Shared letters: hko. Private to "kocht": ct. Private to "Kohl": l.

"kocht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Kohl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kochtkcoht · kkocht · koccht · kochht · kochtt · kocth · kohct · okcht
  • Kohlkhol · kkohl · kohhl · kohll · kolh · okhl

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kocht" and "Kohl" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kocht" is a verb and "Kohl" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kocht" or "Kohl" show up more?
"Kohl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,201 in our German list, against #9,229 for "kocht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "kocht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kohl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,935,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kocht" and "Kohl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kohl vs Kölle". 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 #1,935,939 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