seufzenvsstützenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,776
“seufzen” frequency rank
#8,789
“stützen” frequency rank
46565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seufzen stützen
Definition hörbar und heftig ein- und ausatmen, als Zeichen starker Gefühle wie Kummer, Erleichterung oder Resignation jemanden, etwas (ab)sichern, zusätzlichen Halt geben

Where the eye mixes seufzen and stützen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. seufzen (CVVCCVC) and stützen (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
seufzen
7 ch
stützen

Visual trap between seufzen and stützen

A purely visual mix-up. seufzen ([ˈzɔɪ̯ft͡sn̩]) and stützen ([ˈʃtʏt͡sn̩]) 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 46565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seufzen is recorded at frequency rank #37,776, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯ft͡sn̩]. stützen is at rank #8,789, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏt͡sn̩].

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 46565, this pair ranks #1,314,701 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seufzen vs stützen

Shared letters: ensz. Private to "seufzen": fu. Private to "stützen": tü.

"seufzen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "stützen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seufzen ← esufzen · sefuzen · seufezn · seuffzen · seufzenn · seufzne · seufzzen · seuzfen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seufzen" for "stützen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɔɪ̯ft͡sn̩] versus [ˈʃtʏt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "seufzen" or "stützen" show up more?
"stützen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,789 in our German list, against #37,776 for "seufzen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "seufzen" and "stützen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seufzen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stützen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,314,701 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seufzen" and "stützen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seufzen vs Seufzer". 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 #1,314,701 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