cos

abbrev

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“cos” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #29,065 in German word frequency and used as an abbreviation.

#29,065
frequency rank, German
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Kosinus

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

cos vs CT
0% similar
cos vs Cs
33% similar
cos vs Cr
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for cos
PropertyValue
Headwordcos
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters3
Frequency rank#29,065
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cos” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). cos lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for cos is 3 letters long, classified as an abbreviation. Corpus data places it at rank #29,065 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Kosinus".

cos doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CT", "Cs", "Cr", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is cos, spelled C-O-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Kosinus

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cos"?
"cos" is spelled C-O-S.
What does "cos" mean?
As an abbreviation, "cos" means: Kosinus
What words are commonly confused with "cos"?
"cos" is commonly confused with "CT", "Cs", "Cr". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "cos" come from?
"cos" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “cos”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is C-O-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “CT” - see the side-by-side comparison. cos vs CT
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list