KürbisvsKursWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,309
“Kürbis” frequency rank
#1,894
“Kurs” frequency rank
20203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kürbis Kurs
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 eine eingeschlagene, vorgeschriebene oder aufgezeichnete Richtung einer Person, eines Fahrzeuges, eines Flugzeugs oder eines Schiffes

Where the eye mixes Kürbis and Kurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kürbis runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Kurs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Kürbis
4 ch
Kurs

Visual trap between Kürbis and Kurs

A purely visual mix-up. Kürbis ([ˈkʏʁbɪs]) and Kurs ([kʊʁs]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20203, 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]. Kurs is at rank #1,894, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʊʁs].

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 20203, this pair ranks #1,900,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kürbis vs Kurs

Shared letters: krs. Private to "Kürbis": biü. Private to "Kurs": u.

"Kürbis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Kurs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kurs ← kkurs · krus · kurrs · kurss · kusr · ukrs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kürbis" and "Kurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʏʁbɪs] versus [kʊʁs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kürbis" or "Kurs"?
"Kurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,894 in our German list, against #18,309 for "Kürbis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kürbis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,900,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kürbis" and "Kurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kürbis vs Kürbisse". 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 #1,900,219 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