Which to use
“kühn” is an adjective and “Kurt” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,751
- “kühn” frequency rank
- #3,753
- “Kurt” frequency rank
- 16504
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kühn | Kurt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Gefahr trotzend und ihr entschlossen entgegentretend | männlicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes kühn and Kurt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. kühn and Kurt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses kühn with Kurt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kühn is [kyːn] while Kurt is [kʊʁt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kühn is recorded at frequency rank #12,751, classified as anadj, pronounced [kyːn]. Kurt is at rank #3,753, tagged as aname, pronounced [kʊʁt].
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 16504, this pair ranks #1,935,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kühn vs Kurt
Shared letters: k. Private to "kühn": hnü. Private to "Kurt": rtu.
"kühn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Kurt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Kurt ← kkurt · krut · kurrt · kurtt · kutr · ukrt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kühn" for "Kurt" ever safe?
Which is more common, "kühn" or "Kurt"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "kühn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Kurt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,935,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kühn" and "Kurt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kuck vs kühn". 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 #1,935,288 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.