Which to use
“säuft” is a verb and “Stufe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,266
- “säuft” frequency rank
- #2,997
- “Stufe” frequency rank
- 47263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | säuft | Stufe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs saufen | meist einzelner Teil einer Treppe, der zum Höher- oder Tiefersteigen dient, Trittfläche |
Where the eye mixes säuft and Stufe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between säuft and Stufe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: säuft is [ˈzɔɪ̯ft] while Stufe is [ˈʃtuːfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47263, 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]. Stufe is at rank #2,997, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtuːfə].
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 47263, this pair ranks #1,290,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of säuft vs Stufe
Shared letters: fstu. Private to "säuft": ä. Private to "Stufe": e.
"säuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "Stufe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Stufe ← sstufe · stfue · sttufe · stuef · stuffe · sutfe · tsufe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "säuft" and "Stufe" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "säuft" or "Stufe" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "säuft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Stufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,290,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "säuft" and "Stufe" 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 #1,290,507 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.