KursvsKüsseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,894
“Kurs” frequency rank
#13,420
“Küsse” frequency rank
15314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kurs Küsse
Definition eine eingeschlagene, vorgeschriebene oder aufgezeichnete Richtung einer Person, eines Fahrzeuges, eines Flugzeugs oder eines Schiffes Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kuss

Where the eye mixes Kurs and Küsse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Kurs runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Küsse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Kurs
5 ch
Küsse

Why the eye confuses Kurs with Küsse

A purely visual mix-up. Kurs ([kʊʁs]) and Küsse ([ˈkʏsə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kurs is recorded at frequency rank #1,894, classified as anoun, pronounced [kʊʁs]. Küsse is at rank #13,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʏsə].

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 15314, this pair ranks #1,944,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kurs vs Küsse

Shared letters: ks. Private to "Kurs": ru. Private to "Küsse": eü.

"Kurs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Küsse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kurs" for "Küsse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kʊʁs] versus [ˈkʏsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kurs" or "Küsse" show up more?
"Kurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,894 in our German list, against #13,420 for "Küsse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Küsse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,944,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kurs" and "Küsse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kaste vs Küsse". 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 #1,944,828 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