Which to use
“Köthen” is a name and “kotzen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,669
- “Köthen” frequency rank
- #6,820
- “kotzen” frequency rank
- 36489
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Köthen | kotzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine Stadt in Sachsen-Anhalt, Deutschland | den Mageninhalt über den Mund entleeren |
Where the eye mixes Köthen and kotzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Köthen and kotzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Köthen vs kotzen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Köthen is [ˈkøːtn̩] while kotzen is [ˈkɔt͡sn̩]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Köthen is recorded at frequency rank #29,669, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈkøːtn̩]. kotzen is at rank #6,820, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɔt͡sn̩].
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 36489, this pair ranks #1,614,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Köthen vs kotzen
Shared letters: eknt. Private to "Köthen": hö. Private to "kotzen": oz.
"Köthen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kotzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kotzen ← kkotzen · kotezn · kottzen · kotzenn · kotzne · kotzzen · kozten · ktozen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Köthen" for "kotzen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Köthen" or "kotzen" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Köthen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kotzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,614,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Köthen" and "kotzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kitten vs Köthen". 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 #1,614,332 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.