kurzesvskurzumWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kurzes is a adjective, kurzum is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kurzes” is an adjective and “kurzum” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,742
“kurzes” frequency rank
#21,329
“kurzum” frequency rank
30071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kurzes kurzum
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs kurz um vorher Gesagtes zusammenzufassen; kurz gesagt

Where the eye mixes kurzes and kurzum

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kurzes and kurzum follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
kurzes
6 ch
kurzum

Visual trap between kurzes and kurzum

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kurzes is [ˈkʊʁt͡səs] while kurzum is [kʊʁt͡sˈʔʊm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kurzes is recorded at frequency rank #8,742, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʊʁt͡səs]. kurzum is at rank #21,329, tagged as anadv, pronounced [kʊʁt͡sˈʔʊm].

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 30071, this pair ranks #1,754,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kurzes vs kurzum

Shared letters: kruz. Private to "kurzes": es. Private to "kurzum": m.

"kurzes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kurzum" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kurzes ← kkurzes · kruzes · kurezs · kurrzes · kurzess · kurzse · kurzzes · kuzres
  • kurzum ← kkurzum · kruzum · kurrzum · kuruzm · kurzmu · kurzumm · kurzzum · kuzrum

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kurzes" and "kurzum" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kurzes" is an adjective and "kurzum" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kurzes" vs "kurzum" - which ranks higher?
"kurzes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,742 in our German list, against #21,329 for "kurzum". 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 "kurzes" and "kurzum" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kurzes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kurzum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,754,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kurzes" and "kurzum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kürzt vs kurzum". 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 #1,754,971 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