kürztvskurzumTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#44,034
“kürzt” frequency rank
#21,329
“kurzum” frequency rank
65363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kürzt kurzum
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kürzen um vorher Gesagtes zusammenzufassen; kurz gesagt

Where the eye mixes kürzt and kurzum

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. kürzt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against kurzum's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
kürzt
6 ch
kurzum

Visual trap between kürzt and kurzum

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kürzt is [kʏʁt͡st] while kurzum is [kʊʁt͡sˈʔʊm]. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kürzt is recorded at frequency rank #44,034, classified as averb, pronounced [kʏʁt͡st]. 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 65363, this pair ranks #609,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kürzt vs kurzum

Shared letters: krz. Private to "kürzt": . Private to "kurzum": mu.

"kürzt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "kurzum" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kurzumkkurzum · kruzum · kurrzum · kuruzm · kurzmu · kurzumm · kurzzum · kuzrum

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kürzt" and "kurzum" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kürzt" is a verb and "kurzum" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kürzt" or "kurzum" show up more?
"kurzum" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,329 in our German list, against #44,034 for "kürzt". 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 "kürzt" 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 #609,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kürzt" and "kurzum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kurie vs kürzt". 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 #609,559 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