kostevsKünsteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#22,800
“koste” frequency rank
#7,957
“Künste” frequency rank
30757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature koste Künste
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs kosen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kunst

Where the eye mixes koste and Künste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
koste
6 ch
Künste

Look-alike desk: koste vs Künste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: koste is [ˈkoːstə] while Künste is [ˈkʏnstə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

koste is recorded at frequency rank #22,800, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkoːstə]. Künste is at rank #7,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏnstə].

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 30757, this pair ranks #1,741,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of koste vs Künste

Shared letters: ekst. Private to "koste": o. Private to "Künste": .

"koste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Künste" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kostekkoste · koset · kosste · kotse · ksote · okste

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "koste" and "Künste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "koste" is a verb and "Künste" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "koste" vs "Künste" - which ranks higher?
"Künste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,957 in our German list, against #22,800 for "koste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "koste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Künste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "koste" and "Künste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kölle vs koste". 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 #1,741,680 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