SpuckevsspukWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Spucke is a noun, spuk is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Spucke” is a noun and “spuk” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,780
“Spucke” frequency rank
#27,498
“spuk” frequency rank
58278
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spucke spuk
Definition Sekret einer Speicheldrüse 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spuken

Where the eye mixes Spucke and spuk

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

6 ch
Spucke
4 ch
spuk

Why the eye confuses Spucke with spuk

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spucke is [ˈʃpʊkə] while spuk is [ʃpuːk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spucke is recorded at frequency rank #30,780, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpʊkə]. spuk is at rank #27,498, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpuːk].

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 58278, this pair ranks #868,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Spucke vs spuk

Shared letters: kpsu. Private to "Spucke": ce. Private to "spuk": -.

"Spucke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "spuk" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spuckepsucke · spcuke · sppucke · spuccke · spucek · spuckke · spukce · sspucke
  • spukpsuk · spku · sppuk · spukk · sspuk · supk

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Spucke" for "spuk" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spucke" is a noun and "spuk" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Spucke" or "spuk" show up more?
"spuk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,498 in our German list, against #30,780 for "Spucke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spucke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spuk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #868,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spucke" and "spuk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shut vs spuk". 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 #868,988 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