duftevsdummeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,433
“dufte” frequency rank
#3,804
“dumme” frequency rank
46237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dufte dumme
Definition sehr gut Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs dumm

Where the eye mixes dufte and dumme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dufte and dumme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
dufte
5 ch
dumme

Visual trap between dufte and dumme

A purely visual mix-up. dufte ([ˈdʊftə]) and dumme ([ˈdʊmə]) 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 46237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dufte is recorded at frequency rank #42,433, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊftə]. dumme is at rank #3,804, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊmə].

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 46237, this pair ranks #1,326,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dufte vs dumme

Shared letters: deu. Private to "dufte": ft. Private to "dumme": m.

"dufte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dumme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dufte ← ddufte · dfute · dufet · duffte · dutfe · udfte
  • dumme ← ddumme · dmume · dume · dumem · udmme

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dufte" and "dumme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʊftə] versus [ˈdʊmə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dufte" vs "dumme" - which ranks higher?
"dumme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,804 in our German list, against #42,433 for "dufte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dufte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dumme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,326,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dufte" and "dumme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dufte vs Düne". 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 #1,326,002 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