krähenvsKühenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#26,490
“krähen” frequency rank
#26,084
“Kühen” frequency rank
52574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature krähen Kühen
Definition den typischen Tierlaut eines Hahnes machen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kuh

Where the eye mixes krähen and Kühen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. krähen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against Kühen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
krähen
5 ch
Kühen

Look-alike desk: krähen vs Kühen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: krähen is [ˈkʁɛːən] while Kühen is [ˈkyːən]. 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 52574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

krähen is recorded at frequency rank #26,490, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkʁɛːən]. Kühen is at rank #26,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkyːən].

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 52574, this pair ranks #1,091,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of krähen vs Kühen

Shared letters: ehkn. Private to "krähen": rä. Private to "Kühen": ü.

"krähen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Kühen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "krähen" and "Kühen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "krähen" is a verb and "Kühen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "krähen" or "Kühen"?
"Kühen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,084 in our German list, against #26,490 for "krähen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "krähen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kühen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,091,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "krähen" and "Kühen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs Kühen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,091,489 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