küsstevsKüsteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: küsste is a verb, Küste is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“küsste” is a verb and “Küste” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,811
“küsste” frequency rank
#3,978
“Küste” frequency rank
28789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature küsste Küste
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs küssen Grenzsaum zwischen Land und Meer

Same sound, different letters: küsste vs Küste

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. küsste runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against Küste's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
küsste
5 ch
Küste

Homophone desk: küsste vs Küste

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: küsste and Küste carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈkʏstə]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

küsste is recorded at frequency rank #24,811, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkʏstə]. 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 28789, this pair ranks #1,778,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of küsste vs Küste

Shared letters: ekstü. Private to "küsste": -. Private to "Küste": -.

"küsste" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Küste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "küsste" for "Küste" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "küsste" is a verb and "Küste" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "küsste" or "Küste"?
"Küste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,978 in our German list, against #24,811 for "küsste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "küsste" / "Küste". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "küsste" 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 #1,778,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "küsste" and "Küste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kaste vs küsste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,778,561 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