KühevsKurveTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,584
“Kühe” frequency rank
#6,079
“Kurve” frequency rank
14663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kühe Kurve
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kuh durch eine mathematische Beziehung definierte Linie

Where the eye mixes Kühe and Kurve

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Kühe
5 ch
Kurve

Why the eye confuses Kühe with Kurve

A purely visual mix-up. Kühe ([ˈkyːə]) and Kurve ([ˈkʊʁvə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kühe is recorded at frequency rank #8,584, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkyːə]. Kurve is at rank #6,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʊʁvə].

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 14663, this pair ranks #1,949,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kühe vs Kurve

Shared letters: ek. Private to "Kühe": . Private to "Kurve": ruv.

"Kühe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Kurve" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kurvekkurve · kruve · kurev · kurrve · kurvve · kuvre · ukrve

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kühe" and "Kurve" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkyːə] versus [ˈkʊʁvə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Kühe" vs "Kurve" - which ranks higher?
"Kurve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,079 in our German list, against #8,584 for "Kühe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kühe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kurve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kühe" and "Kurve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karge vs Kurve". 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 #1,949,621 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