Which to use
“Kurbel” is a noun and “kürten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,036
- “Kurbel” frequency rank
- #39,491
- “kürten” frequency rank
- 76527
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Kurbel | kürten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einarmiger Hebel zum kreisenden Bewirken einer Drehung | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs küren |
Where the eye mixes Kurbel and kürten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kurbel and kürten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Kurbel vs kürten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kurbel is [ˈkʊʁbl̩] while kürten is [ˈkyːɐ̯tn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Kurbel is recorded at frequency rank #37,036, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʊʁbl̩]. 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 76527, this pair ranks #281,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Kurbel vs kürten
Shared letters: ekr. Private to "Kurbel": blu. Private to "kürten": ntü.
"Kurbel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kürten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Kurbel ← kkurbel · krubel · kubrel · kurbbel · kurbell · kurble · kurebl · kurrbel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Kurbel" and "kürten" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Kurbel" or "kürten"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Kurbel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kürten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Kurbel" and "kürten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kucken vs kürten". 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 #281,826 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.