kostenvskürtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#570
“kosten” frequency rank
#39,491
“kürten” frequency rank
40061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kosten kürten
Definition [jemandem] etwas (zum Beispiel in Form von Geld) wert sein, einen Wert oder bestimmten Preis haben 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs küren

Where the eye mixes kosten and kürten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kosten and kürten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
kosten
6 ch
kürten

Why the eye confuses kosten with kürten

A purely visual mix-up. kosten ([ˈkɔstn̩]) and kürten ([ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kosten is recorded at frequency rank #570, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔstn̩]. kürten is at rank #39,491, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩].

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 40061, this pair ranks #1,519,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kosten vs kürten

Shared letters: eknt. Private to "kosten": os. Private to "kürten": rü.

"kosten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kürten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kosten" and "kürten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɔstn̩] versus [ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kosten" or "kürten"?
"kosten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #570 in our German list, against #39,491 for "kürten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kosten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kürten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,519,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kosten" and "kürten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kürten". 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 #1,519,137 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