säuftvsstautTell them apart

Which to use

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

#44,266
“säuft” frequency rank
#39,044
“staut” frequency rank
83310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature säuft staut
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs saufen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stauen

Where the eye mixes säuft and staut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. säuft (CVVCC) and staut (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
säuft
5 ch
staut

Look-alike desk: säuft vs staut

A purely visual mix-up. säuft ([ˈzɔɪ̯ft]) and staut ([ʃtaʊ̯t]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

säuft is recorded at frequency rank #44,266, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯ft]. staut is at rank #39,044, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtaʊ̯t].

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 83310, this pair ranks #142,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of säuft vs staut

Shared letters: stu. Private to "säuft": fä. Private to "staut": a.

"säuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "staut" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staut ← satut · sstaut · statu · stautt · sttaut · stuat · tsaut

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "säuft" and "staut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɔɪ̯ft] versus [ʃtaʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "säuft" or "staut"?
"staut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,044 in our German list, against #44,266 for "säuft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "säuft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "staut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "säuft" and "staut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "säuft vs surft". 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 #142,087 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