kürzervskürzereWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,947
“kürzer” frequency rank
#14,116
“kürzere” frequency rank
21063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kürzer kürzere
Definition Prädikative und adverbielle Form des Komparativs des Adjektivs kurz Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs kurz

Where the eye mixes kürzer and kürzere

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

6 ch
kürzer
7 ch
kürzere

Look-alike desk: kürzer vs kürzere

A purely visual mix-up. kürzer ([ˈkʏʁt͡sɐ]) and kürzere ([ˈkʏʁt͡səʁə]) 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) - “kürzer” sits inside “kürzere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kürzer is recorded at frequency rank #6,947, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏʁt͡sɐ]. kürzere is at rank #14,116, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏʁt͡səʁə].

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 21063, this pair ranks #1,890,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kürzer vs kürzere

Shared letters: ekrzü. Private to "kürzer": -. Private to "kürzere": -.

"kürzer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kürzere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kürzer" and "kürzere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʏʁt͡sɐ] versus [ˈkʏʁt͡səʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kürzer" or "kürzere"?
"kürzer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,947 in our German list, against #14,116 for "kürzere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kürzer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kürzere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,890,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kürzer" and "kürzere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kürzere vs kürzerer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,890,578 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