kostenvsKünstenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#570
“kosten” frequency rank
#44,761
“Künsten” frequency rank
45331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kosten Künsten
Definition [jemandem] etwas (zum Beispiel in Form von Geld) wert sein, einen Wert oder bestimmten Preis haben Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kunst

Where the eye mixes kosten and Künsten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kosten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Künsten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kosten
7 ch
Künsten

Look-alike desk: kosten vs Künsten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kosten is [ˈkɔstn̩] while Künsten is [ˈkʏnstn̩]. 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 45331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kosten is recorded at frequency rank #570, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔstn̩]. Künsten is at rank #44,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏnstn̩].

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 45331, this pair ranks #1,356,669 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kosten vs Künsten

Shared letters: eknst. Private to "kosten": o. Private to "Künsten": ü.

"kosten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Künsten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kosten ← kkosten · kosetn · kossten · kostenn · kostne · kostten · kotsen · ksoten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kosten" and "Künsten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kosten" is a verb and "Künsten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kosten" or "Künsten"?
"kosten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #570 in our German list, against #44,761 for "Künsten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "kosten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Künsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,356,669 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kosten" and "Künsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kundtun vs Künsten". 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 #1,356,669 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