seltenvsStutenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: selten is a adjective, Stuten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“selten” is an adjective and “Stuten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#911
“selten” frequency rank
#48,519
“Stuten” frequency rank
49430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature selten Stuten
Definition nur in geringen Mengen vorhanden (längliches) Weißbrot (mit Rosinen)

Where the eye mixes selten and Stuten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
selten
6 ch
Stuten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: selten is [ˈzɛltn̩] while Stuten is [ˈʃtuːtn̩]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

selten is recorded at frequency rank #911, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltn̩]. Stuten is at rank #48,519, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtuːtn̩].

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 49430, this pair ranks #1,211,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of selten vs Stuten

Shared letters: enst. Private to "selten": l. Private to "Stuten": u.

"selten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Stuten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • selteneslten · seletn · sellten · seltenn · seltne · seltten · setlen · sleten
  • Stutensstuten · sttuen · sttuten · stuetn · stutenn · stutne · stutten · sutten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "selten" and "Stuten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "selten" is an adjective and "Stuten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "selten" or "Stuten"?
"selten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #911 in our German list, against #48,519 for "Stuten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "selten" and "Stuten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "selten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,211,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "selten" and "Stuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stuten". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list