DuftvsDumaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,850
“Duft” frequency rank
#41,116
“Duma” frequency rank
49966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Duft Duma
Definition ein angenehmer Geruch, der sich verbreitet oder ausgebracht wird; organische oder chemische Verbindung russisches Unterhaus

Where the eye mixes Duft and Duma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Duft
4 ch
Duma

Visual trap between Duft and Duma

A purely visual mix-up. Duft ([dʊft]) and Duma ([ˈduːma]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Duft is recorded at frequency rank #8,850, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʊft]. Duma is at rank #41,116, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈduːma].

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 49966, this pair ranks #1,191,688 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Duft vs Duma

Shared letters: du. Private to "Duft": ft. Private to "Duma": am.

"Duft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Duma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Duftdduft · dfut · dufft · duftt · dutf · udft
  • Dumadduma · dmua · duam · dumma · udma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Duft" and "Duma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([dʊft] versus [ˈduːma]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Duft" vs "Duma" - which ranks higher?
"Duft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,850 in our German list, against #41,116 for "Duma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Duft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Duma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,191,688 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Duft" and "Duma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Duma vs duran". 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 #1,191,688 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