The midfielder looped his header into the net after a goalmouth scramble following a corner eight minutes from time to give the three-times champions a deserved win and deny Uruguay their best finish since they lifted the trophy 60 years ago.
It was the second tournament in a row tht Germany finished third after they won the playoff as hosts at the last finals.
Germany had gone ahead in the 19th minute with Thomas Mueller's fifth goal of the tournament but Uruguay hit back nine minutes later through Edinson Cavani.
The Uruguayans briefly snatched the lead through striker Diego Forlan, with his fifth goal at these finals, in the 51st but fullback Marcell Jansen equalised five minutes later.
Khedira then popped up with the winner but Uruguay went agonisingly close with the last kick of the game when Forlan's curling freekick from 20 metres rattled the crossbar.
"It's a tribute not just to the team but to all 23 players here that we were able to give a good performance and keep the quality high," said Khedira. "We've done well here but next time we want to get to the next level."
Asked about his last-gasp effort that almost found the net, Forlan said: "It just missed by a fraction. We improved a lot in the second half but we made a couple of mistakes and the game got away. I'm pretty tired but it's over now.
"We wanted to reach the final, it wasn't possible, but we did our best in every game. Now it's time for a rest."
Forlan and Mueller joined Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder and Spain striker David Villa at the top of the scoring charts.
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