KohlvskühltWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,201
“Kohl” frequency rank
#29,208
“kühlt” frequency rank
36409
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Kohl and kühlt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Kohl
5 ch
kühlt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kohl is [koːl] while kühlt is [kyːlt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kohl is recorded at frequency rank #7,201, classified as anoun, pronounced [koːl]. kühlt is at rank #29,208, tagged as averb, pronounced [kyːlt].

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 36409, this pair ranks #1,616,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kohl vs kühlt

Shared letters: hkl. Private to "Kohl": o. Private to "kühlt": .

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kohlkhol · kkohl · kohhl · kohll · kolh · okhl

Frequency comparison

Kohl#7,201
kühlt#29,208

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kohl" and "kühlt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kohl" is a noun and "kühlt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kohl" or "kühlt"?
"Kohl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,201 in our German list, against #29,208 for "kühlt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Kohl vs kühlt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Kohl”; for a verb, it's “kühlt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Kohl” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list