KatzevsKürzeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,659
“Katze” frequency rank
#5,862
“Kürze” frequency rank
8521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Katze Kürze
Definition in zahlreichen Rassen gezüchtetes, dem Menschen verbundenes, anschmiegsames Haustier (Felis silvestris catus) Sparsamkeit mit Worten

Where the eye mixes Katze and Kürze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Katze
5 ch
Kürze

Visual trap between Katze and Kürze

A purely visual mix-up. Katze ([ˈkat͡sə]) and Kürze ([ˈkʏʁt͡sə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Katze is recorded at frequency rank #2,659, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat͡sə]. Kürze is at rank #5,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏʁt͡sə].

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 8521, this pair ranks #1,983,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Katze vs Kürze

Shared letters: ekz. Private to "Katze": at. Private to "Kürze": .

"Katze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Kürze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Katzeaktze · katez · kattze · katzze · kazte · kkatze · ktaze

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Katze" and "Kürze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkat͡sə] versus [ˈkʏʁt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Katze" vs "Kürze" - which ranks higher?
"Katze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,659 in our German list, against #5,862 for "Kürze". 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 "Katze" and "Kürze" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Katze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kürze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Katze" and "Kürze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kürze". 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 #1,983,954 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