Which to use
“Kohlen” is a noun and “kühnen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,626
- “Kohlen” frequency rank
- #38,244
- “kühnen” frequency rank
- 63870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kohlen | kühnen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kohle | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the eye mixes Kohlen and kühnen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kohlen and kühnen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Kohlen and kühnen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kohlen is [ˈkoːlən] while kühnen is [ˈkyːnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Kohlen is recorded at frequency rank #25,626, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoːlən]. kühnen is at rank #38,244, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkyːnən].
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 63870, this pair ranks #661,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Kohlen vs kühnen
Shared letters: ehkn. Private to "Kohlen": lo. Private to "kühnen": ü.
"Kohlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kühnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Kohlen ← kholen · kkohlen · koheln · kohhlen · kohlenn · kohllen · kohlne · kolhen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Kohlen" for "kühnen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Kohlen" or "kühnen"?
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 "Kohlen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #661,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Kohlen" and "kühnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kühnen". 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 #661,451 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.