Which to use
“zum” and “zur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,603
- “zum” frequency rank
- #23,072
- “zur” frequency rank
- 62675
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | zum | zur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contraction de zu dem, donnant souvent : au (à le), à la, à l’. | Contraction de zu der. |
Where the eye mixes zum and zur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. zum and zur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses zum with zur
A purely visual mix-up. zum (\t͡sʊm\) and zur (\t͡suːɐ̯\) 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 a single letter - m in “zum” becomes r in “zur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
zum is recorded at frequency rank #39,603, classified as aprep, pronounced \t͡sʊm\. zur is at rank #23,072, tagged as aprep, pronounced \t͡suːɐ̯\.
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 62675, this pair ranks #85,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of zum vs zur
Shared letters: uz. Private to "zum": m. Private to "zur": r.
"zum" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "zur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "zum" and "zur" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "zum" or "zur" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "zum" and "zur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "zum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "zum" and "zur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zap vs zum". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #85,914 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.