KühlervsKüsterTell them apart

Which to use

“Kühler” and “Küster” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,192
“Kühler” frequency rank
#32,142
“Küster” frequency rank
45334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kühler Küster
Definition Gefäß/Behälter zum Kühlhalten von Getränken Kirchenangestellter, dessen Aufgabe in der Vorbereitung von liturgischen Feiern besteht

Where the eye mixes Kühler and Küster

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Kühler
6 ch
Küster

Look-alike desk: Kühler vs Küster

A purely visual mix-up. Kühler ([ˈkyːlɐ]) and Küster ([ˈkʏstɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kühler is recorded at frequency rank #13,192, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkyːlɐ]. Küster is at rank #32,142, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏstɐ].

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 45334, this pair ranks #1,356,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kühler vs Küster

Shared letters: ekrü. Private to "Kühler": hl. Private to "Küster": st.

"Kühler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Küster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kühler" for "Küster" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkyːlɐ] versus [ˈkʏstɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Kühler" vs "Küster" - which ranks higher?
"Kühler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,192 in our German list, against #32,142 for "Küster". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Kühler" and "Küster" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kühler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Küster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,356,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kühler" and "Küster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Küster vs Kutter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,356,579 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