Which to use
“kühlen” is a verb and “kühne” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,125
- “kühlen” frequency rank
- #14,346
- “kühne” frequency rank
- 24471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kühlen | kühne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn |
Where the eye mixes kühlen and kühne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: kühlen vs kühne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kühlen is [ˈkyːlən] while kühne is [ˈkyːnə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kühlen is recorded at frequency rank #10,125, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkyːlən]. 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 24471, this pair ranks #1,847,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kühlen vs kühne
Shared letters: ehknü. Private to "kühlen": l. Private to "kühne": -.
"kühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kühne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "kühlen" and "kühne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "kühlen" vs "kühne" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "kühlen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,847,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kühlen" and "kühne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kühlen". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,847,148 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.