kühlen

[ˈkyːlən]

/[ˈkyːlən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“kühlen” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #10,125. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,125
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern

Corpus desk

Index DE-kuhlen · kühlen · German

kühlen · rank #10,125 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,125
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH Köhler

Nearest frequency peer: Köhler (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „kühlen“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „kühlen“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

kühlen vs kühn
67% similar
kühlen vs kühne
67% similar
kühlen vs Küken
50% similar

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

Key facts for kühlen
PropertyValue
Headwordkühlen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈkyːlən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#10,125
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „kühlen“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).kühlenliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Köhler“ (#10,124), „luis“ (#10,126), „Krankenschwester“ (#10,123). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „kühlen“ bei #10,125. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around kühlen (IPA [ˈkyːlən]), averb. Corpus frequency is #10,125 among 4,158 “K” headwords. Dominant gloss: "kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for kühlen, with forms such as "khülen", "kkühlen", and "küheln". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "kühn", "kühne", "Küken", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is kühlen, spelled K-Ü-H-L-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kühlen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Wir sollten die Getränke kühlen, damit wir nicht warme Limonade trinken müssen.
  2. „Organe [werden] auf dem Weg vom Spender zum Empfänger auf etwa vier Grad gekühlt.“

Synonyms

abkühlenauskühlenkühl machenabschreckenauf Eis legenerkalten lassenkalt stellenkalt werden lassen

This word in other languages

cool(English)enfriar(Español)rafraîchir(Français)arrefecer(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • khülen
  • kkühlen
  • küheln
  • kühhlen
  • kühlenn
  • kühllen
  • kühlne
  • külhen
  • ükhlen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kühlen - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

khülen2kkühlen1küheln2kühhlen1kühlenn1kühllen1kühlne2külhen2
Edit distance from "kühlen"

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 "kühlen"?
"kühlen" is spelled K-Ü-H-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkyːlən].
What does "kühlen" mean?
As a verb, "kühlen" means: kühl machen; Temperatur (von etwas, das warm oder heiß ist) vermindern
What words are commonly confused with "kühlen"?
"kühlen" is commonly confused with "kühn", "kühne", "Küken". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "kühlen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kühlen" is [ˈkyːlən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kühlen" come from?
"kühlen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kühlen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Köhler#10,124Maurer#10,130Innern#10,116Hühner#10,112

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Massage9 variantsknappen9 variantsIdealen9 variantshusten9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list