KurvevsKüsseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,079
“Kurve” frequency rank
#13,420
“Küsse” frequency rank
19499
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kurve Küsse
Definition durch eine mathematische Beziehung definierte Linie Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kuss

Where the eye mixes Kurve and Küsse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Kurve and Küsse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Kurve
5 ch
Küsse

Visual trap between Kurve and Küsse

A purely visual mix-up. Kurve ([ˈkʊʁvə]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kurve is recorded at frequency rank #6,079, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkʊʁvə]. 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 19499, this pair ranks #1,907,711 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kurve vs Küsse

Shared letters: ek. Private to "Kurve": ruv. Private to "Küsse": sü.

"Kurve" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Küsse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kurve ← kkurve · kruve · kurev · kurrve · kurvve · kuvre · ukrve

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kurve" and "Küsse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʊʁvə] versus [ˈkʏsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kurve" or "Küsse"?
"Kurve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,079 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kurve" 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 #1,907,711 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kurve" 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 #1,907,711 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