spukvssumWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,498
“spuk” frequency rank
#31,289
“sum” frequency rank
58787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spuk sum
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spuken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse

Letter map: spuk vs sum

Shared letters muted; letters that set spuk and sum apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
spuk
3 ch
sum

Spelling & dictionary notes on spuk vs sum

spuk and sum are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spuk is recorded at frequency rank #27,498, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpuːk]. sum is at rank #31,289, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 58787, this pair ranks #849,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spuk vs sum

Shared letters: su. Private to "spuk": kp. Private to "sum": m.

"spuk" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spukpsuk · spku · sppuk · spukk · sspuk · supk

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spuk" for "sum" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "spuk" vs "sum" - which ranks higher?
"spuk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,498 in our German list, against #31,289 for "sum". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "spuk" and "sum".

  • Full dictionary entry for "spuk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #849,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spuk" and "sum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sum". 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 #849,322 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