KödervsködernWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#22,410
“Köder” frequency rank
#44,033
“ködern” frequency rank
66443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Köder ködern
Definition Objekt, welches Tiere dazu bringt, sich ihm anzunähern und/oder es zu fressen jemanden oder ein Tier anlocken, in eine Falle locken

Where the eye mixes Köder and ködern

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

5 ch
Köder
6 ch
ködern

Look-alike desk: Köder vs ködern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Köder is [ˈkøːdɐ] while ködern is [ˈkøːdɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Köder” sits inside “ködern”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Köder is recorded at frequency rank #22,410, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːdɐ]. ködern is at rank #44,033, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkøːdɐn].

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 66443, this pair ranks #573,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Köder vs ködern

Shared letters: dekrö. Private to "Köder": -. Private to "ködern": n.

"Köder" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ködern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Köder" and "ködern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Köder" is a noun and "ködern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Köder" vs "ködern" - which ranks higher?
"Köder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,410 in our German list, against #44,033 for "ködern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Köder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ködern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #573,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Köder" and "ködern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kapern vs ködern". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #573,082 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