KultvsKüsteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#8,236
“Kult” frequency rank
#3,978
“Küste” frequency rank
12214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kult Küste
Definition auf bestimmten Abläufen und Riten beruhende Verehrung einer Gottheit Grenzsaum zwischen Land und Meer

Where the eye mixes Kult and Küste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Kult
5 ch
Küste

Why the eye confuses Kult with Küste

A purely visual mix-up. Kult ([kʊlt]) and Küste ([ˈkʏstə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kult is recorded at frequency rank #8,236, classified as anoun, pronounced [kʊlt]. Küste is at rank #3,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏstə].

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 12214, this pair ranks #1,965,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kult vs Küste

Shared letters: kt. Private to "Kult": lu. Private to "Küste": esü.

"Kult" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Küste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kultkkult · klut · kullt · kultt · kutl · uklt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kult" for "Küste" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kʊlt] versus [ˈkʏstə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kult" or "Küste"?
"Küste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,978 in our German list, against #8,236 for "Kult". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kult" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Küste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kult" and "Küste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kola vs Kult". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,965,515 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