kuriosvskurioseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,492
“kurios” frequency rank
#34,227
“kuriose” frequency rank
60719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kurios kuriose
Definition auf eine Art oder Weise, dass es auffällt oder man sich darüber wundert oder einen Verdacht hegt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kurios

Where the eye mixes kurios and kuriose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. kurios runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against kuriose's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kurios
7 ch
kuriose

Why the eye confuses kurios with kuriose

A purely visual mix-up. kurios ([kuˈʁi̯oːs]) and kuriose ([kuˈʁi̯oːzə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “kurios” sits inside “kuriose”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kurios is recorded at frequency rank #26,492, classified as anadj, pronounced [kuˈʁi̯oːs]. kuriose is at rank #34,227, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kuˈʁi̯oːzə].

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 60719, this pair ranks #776,526 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kurios vs kuriose

Shared letters: ikorsu. Private to "kurios": -. Private to "kuriose": e.

"kurios" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "kuriose" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kurios ← kkurios · kruios · kuiros · kurioss · kuriso · kurois · kurrios · ukrios
  • kuriose ← kkuriose · kruiose · kuirose · kurioes · kuriosse · kurisoe · kuroise · kurriose

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kurios" for "kuriose" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kuˈʁi̯oːs] versus [kuˈʁi̯oːzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kurios" or "kuriose"?
"kurios" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,492 in our German list, against #34,227 for "kuriose". 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 "kurios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kuriose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #776,526 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kurios" and "kuriose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kürbisse vs kuriose". 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 #776,526 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