KursevskursivWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Kurse is a noun, kursiv is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Kurse” is a noun and “kursiv” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,098
“Kurse” frequency rank
#46,094
“kursiv” frequency rank
51192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kurse kursiv
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Kurs schräg, meist nach rechts geneigt

Where the eye mixes Kurse and kursiv

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kurse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against kursiv's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Kurse
6 ch
kursiv

Look-alike desk: Kurse vs kursiv

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kurse is [ˈkʊʁzə] while kursiv is [kʊʁˈziːf]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kurse is recorded at frequency rank #5,098, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʊʁzə]. kursiv is at rank #46,094, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kʊʁˈziːf].

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 51192, this pair ranks #1,144,966 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kurse vs kursiv

Shared letters: krsu. Private to "Kurse": e. Private to "kursiv": iv.

"Kurse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "kursiv" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kurse ← kkurse · kures · kurrse · kursse · kusre · ukrse
  • kursiv ← kkursiv · krusiv · kurisv · kurrsiv · kursivv · kurssiv · kursvi · kusriv

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kurse" for "kursiv" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kurse" is a noun and "kursiv" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Kurse" or "kursiv"?
"Kurse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,098 in our German list, against #46,094 for "kursiv". 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 "Kurse" and "kursiv" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kurse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kursiv" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,144,966 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kurse" and "kursiv" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kurie vs kursiv". 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 #1,144,966 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