kuckvskurzConfusable pair

Quick tell: kuck is a verb, kurz is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kuck” is a verb and “kurz” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,299
“kuck” frequency rank
#331
“kurz” frequency rank
41630
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kuck kurz
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kucken wenig Länge habend

Where the eye mixes kuck and kurz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kuck and kurz follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
kuck
4 ch
kurz

Look-alike desk: kuck vs kurz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kuck is [kʊk] while kurz is [kʊʁt͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kuck is recorded at frequency rank #41,299, classified as averb, pronounced [kʊk]. kurz is at rank #331, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kʊʁt͡s].

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 41630, this pair ranks #1,473,672 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kuck vs kurz

Shared letters: ku. Private to "kuck": c. Private to "kurz": rz.

"kuck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kurz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kuck ← kcuk · kkuck · kucck · kuckk · kukc · ukck
  • kurz ← kkurz · kruz · kurrz · kurzz · kuzr · ukrz

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kuck" for "kurz" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kuck" is a verb and "kurz" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kuck" vs "kurz" - which ranks higher?
"kurz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #331 in our German list, against #41,299 for "kuck". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kuck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kurz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,473,672 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kuck" and "kurz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kuck vs kucken". 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 #1,473,672 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