KorkvskotzWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,297
“Kork” frequency rank
#34,220
“kotz” frequency rank
77517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kork kotz
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 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kotzen

Where the eye mixes Kork and kotz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Kork and kotz follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Kork
4 ch
kotz

Look-alike desk: Kork vs kotz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kork is [kɔʁk] while kotz is [kɔt͡s]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77517, 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]. kotz is at rank #34,220, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɔt͡s].

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 77517, this pair ranks #258,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Kork vs kotz

Shared letters: ko. Private to "Kork": r. Private to "kotz": tz.

"Kork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kotz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kork ← kkork · kokr · korkk · korrk · krok · okrk
  • kotz ← kkotz · kotzz · kozt · ktoz · oktz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kork" and "kotz" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kork" is a noun and "kotz" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kork" or "kotz"?
"kotz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,220 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kork" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kotz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kork" and "kotz" 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 #258,971 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