KürbisvsKürbisseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,309
“Kürbis” frequency rank
#46,097
“Kürbisse” frequency rank
64406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kürbis Kürbisse
Definition (aus den Tropen Amerikas stammende) einjährige, kriechende oder rankende Pflanze mit großen, gelappten Blättern, großen, trichterförmigen gelben Blüten und teils sehr großen, dicken, zumeist kugelförmigen, saftreichen, gelben oder orangefarbenen Früchten Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kürbis

Where the eye mixes Kürbis and Kürbisse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Kürbis runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Kürbisse's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Kürbis
8 ch
Kürbisse

Visual trap between Kürbis and Kürbisse

A purely visual mix-up. Kürbis ([ˈkʏʁbɪs]) and Kürbisse ([ˈkʏʁbɪsə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Kürbis” sits inside “Kürbisse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kürbis is recorded at frequency rank #18,309, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏʁbɪs]. Kürbisse is at rank #46,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏʁbɪsə].

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 64406, this pair ranks #642,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kürbis vs Kürbisse

Shared letters: bikrsü. Private to "Kürbis": -. Private to "Kürbisse": e.

"Kürbis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Kürbisse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kürbis" and "Kürbisse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʏʁbɪs] versus [ˈkʏʁbɪsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Kürbis" vs "Kürbisse" - which ranks higher?
"Kürbis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,309 in our German list, against #46,097 for "Kürbisse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Kürbis" and "Kürbisse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kürbis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kürbisse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #642,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kürbis" and "Kürbisse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kürbisse vs kuriose". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #642,723 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