Which to use
“Kühen” is a noun and “kühnen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,084
- “Kühen” frequency rank
- #38,244
- “kühnen” frequency rank
- 64328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kühen | kühnen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Kuh | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the eye mixes Kühen and kühnen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Kühen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against kühnen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Kühen and kühnen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kühen is [ˈkyːən] while kühnen is [ˈkyːnən]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64328, 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]. kühnen is at rank #38,244, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkyːnən].
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 64328, this pair ranks #645,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Kühen vs kühnen
Shared letters: ehknü. Private to "Kühen": -. Private to "kühnen": -.
"Kühen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "kühnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Kühen" for "kühnen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Kühen" or "kühnen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Kühen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #645,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Kühen" and "kühnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kühnen". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #645,427 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.