KorkvskotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Kork” and “kot” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,297
“Kork” frequency rank
#17,056
“kot” frequency rank
60353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kork kot
Definition 2,5 bis 20 cm dicke Rinde der Korkeiche (quercus suber), aus lückenlos aneinander schließenden Zellen, die für Flüssigkeiten und Gase schwer durchlässig sind Katze, Kater (Felis silvestris)

Where the eye mixes Kork and kot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Kork runs 4 letters (CVCC) against kot's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Kork
3 ch
kot

Visual trap between Kork and kot

A purely visual mix-up. Kork ([kɔʁk]) and kot ([kɔt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kork is recorded at frequency rank #43,297, classified as anoun, pronounced [kɔʁk]. kot is at rank #17,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔt].

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 60353, this pair ranks #790,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kork vs kot

Shared letters: ko. Private to "Kork": r. Private to "kot": t.

"Kork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kork ← kkork · kokr · korkk · korrk · krok · okrk

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kork" for "kot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kɔʁk] versus [kɔt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kork" or "kot" show up more?
"kot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,056 in our German list, against #43,297 for "Kork". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Kork" and "kot" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kork" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #790,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kork" and "kot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kola vs Kork". 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 #790,176 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