kümmerevskürzereWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,987
“kümmere” frequency rank
#14,116
“kürzere” frequency rank
35103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kümmere kürzere
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kümmern Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs kurz

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set kümmere and kürzere apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
kümmere
7 ch
kürzere

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kümmere is [ˈkʏməʁə] while kürzere is [ˈkʏʁt͡səʁə]. 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 35103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kümmere is recorded at frequency rank #20,987, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkʏməʁə]. kürzere is at rank #14,116, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏʁt͡səʁə].

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 35103, this pair ranks #1,648,016 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kümmere vs kürzere

Shared letters: ekrü. Private to "kümmere": m. Private to "kürzere": z.

"kümmere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "kürzere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequency comparison

kümmere#20,987
kürzere#14,116

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kümmere" and "kürzere" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kümmere" is a verb and "kürzere" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kümmere" or "kürzere"?
"kürzere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,116 in our German list, against #20,987 for "kümmere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering kümmere vs kürzere

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “kümmere”; for an adjective, it's “kürzere”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “kümmere” 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