kühnenvskürtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kühnen is a adjective, kürten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#38,244
“kühnen” frequency rank
#39,491
“kürten” frequency rank
77735
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kühnen kürten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kühn 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs küren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set kühnen and kürten apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
kühnen
6 ch
kürten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kühnen is [ˈkyːnən] while kürten is [ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kühnen is recorded at frequency rank #38,244, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkyːnən]. kürten is at rank #39,491, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩].

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 77735, this pair ranks #254,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kühnen vs kürten

Shared letters: eknü. Private to "kühnen": h. Private to "kürten": rt.

"kühnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kürten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

kühnen#38,244
kürten#39,491

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kühnen" and "kürten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kühnen" is an adjective and "kürten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kühnen" or "kürten"?
"kühnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,244 in our German list, against #39,491 for "kürten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering kühnen vs kürten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “kühnen”; for a verb, it's “kürten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “kühnen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list