Which to use
“kühlt” is a verb and “kühn” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,208
- “kühlt” frequency rank
- #12,751
- “kühn” frequency rank
- 41959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kühlt | kühn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kühlen | der Gefahr trotzend und ihr entschlossen entgegentretend |
Where the eye mixes kühlt and kühn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kühlt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against kühn's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between kühlt and kühn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kühlt is [kyːlt] while kühn is [kyːn]. 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 41959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kühlt is recorded at frequency rank #29,208, classified as averb, pronounced [kyːlt]. kühn is at rank #12,751, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kyːn].
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 41959, this pair ranks #1,463,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of kühlt vs kühn
Shared letters: hkü. Private to "kühlt": lt. Private to "kühn": n.
"kühlt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "kühn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "kühlt" and "kühn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "kühlt" or "kühn" show up more?
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 "kühlt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kühn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,463,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kühlt" and "kühn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "killt vs kühlt". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,463,849 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.