KühevskühltWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,584
“Kühe” frequency rank
#29,208
“kühlt” frequency rank
37792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kühe kühlt
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kuh 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kühlen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Kühe and kühlt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Kühe
5 ch
kühlt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kühe is [ˈkyːə] while kühlt is [kyːlt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kühe is recorded at frequency rank #8,584, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkyːə]. kühlt is at rank #29,208, tagged as averb, pronounced [kyːlt].

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 37792, this pair ranks #1,580,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kühe vs kühlt

Shared letters: hkü. Private to "Kühe": e. Private to "kühlt": lt.

"Kühe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "kühlt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Frequency comparison

Kühe#8,584
kühlt#29,208

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kühe" and "kühlt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kühe" is a noun and "kühlt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kühe" or "kühlt"?
"Kühe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,584 in our German list, against #29,208 for "kühlt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Kühe vs kühlt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Kühe”; for a verb, it's “kühlt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Kühe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list