SpeckvsStückWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,755
“Speck” frequency rank
#711
“Stück” frequency rank
12466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Speck Stück
Definition Plural selten, Fettgewebe zwischen Haut und Muskeln bei Säugetieren, sichtbare Ablagerungen von Fettgewebe am menschlichen Körper Teil eines Ganzen

Where the eye mixes Speck and Stück

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

5 ch
Speck
5 ch
Stück

Why the eye confuses Speck with Stück

A purely visual mix-up. Speck ([ʃpɛk]) and Stück ([ʃtʏk]) 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 12466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Speck is recorded at frequency rank #11,755, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃpɛk]. Stück is at rank #711, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtʏk].

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 12466, this pair ranks #1,964,025 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Speck vs Stück

Shared letters: cks. Private to "Speck": ep. Private to "Stück": tü.

"Speck" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Stück" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Speck ← pseck · sepck · spcek · specck · speckk · spekc · sppeck · sspeck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Speck" for "Stück" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃpɛk] versus [ʃtʏk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Speck" vs "Stück" - which ranks higher?
"Stück" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #711 in our German list, against #11,755 for "Speck". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Speck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stück" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,964,025 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Speck" and "Stück" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "speak vs Speck". 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 #1,964,025 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