Which to use
“Kühen” is a noun and “kühne” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,084
- “Kühen” frequency rank
- #14,346
- “kühne” frequency rank
- 40430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kühen | kühne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kuh | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Kühen and kühne apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kühen is [ˈkyːən] while kühne is [ˈkyːnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (en ↔ ne) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Kühen is recorded at frequency rank #26,084, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkyːən]. kühne is at rank #14,346, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkyːnə].
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 40430, this pair ranks #1,508,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Kühen vs kühne
Shared letters: ehknü. Private to "Kühen": -. Private to "kühne": -.
"Kühen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "kühne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Kühen" and "kühne" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Kühen" or "kühne"?
Remembering Kühen vs kühne
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Kühen”; for an adjective, it's “kühne”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Kühen” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable