KerbevsKürzeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,443
“Kerbe” frequency rank
#5,862
“Kürze” frequency rank
42305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kerbe Kürze
Definition eine keilförmige Vertiefung Sparsamkeit mit Worten

Where the eye mixes Kerbe and Kürze

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

5 ch
Kerbe
5 ch
Kürze

Look-alike desk: Kerbe vs Kürze

A purely visual mix-up. Kerbe ([ˈkɛʁbə]) 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 42305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kerbe is recorded at frequency rank #36,443, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɛʁbə]. 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 42305, this pair ranks #1,453,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kerbe vs Kürze

Shared letters: ekr. Private to "Kerbe": b. Private to "Kürze": .

"Kerbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Kürze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kerbeekrbe · kebre · kerbbe · kereb · kerrbe · kkerbe · krebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kerbe" and "Kürze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɛʁbə] versus [ˈkʏʁt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kerbe" or "Kürze"?
"Kürze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,862 in our German list, against #36,443 for "Kerbe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kerbe" 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 #1,453,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kerbe" and "Kürze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kerbe". 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 #1,453,518 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