stemmenvsstummenTell them apart

Quick tell: stemmen is a verb, stummen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stemmen” is a verb and “stummen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,417
“stemmen” frequency rank
#44,951
“stummen” frequency rank
65368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stemmen stummen
Definition etwas Schweres in die Höhe heben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stumm

Where the eye mixes stemmen and stummen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
stemmen
7 ch
stummen

Look-alike desk: stemmen vs stummen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stemmen is [ˈʃtɛmən] while stummen is [ˈʃtʊmən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “stemmen” becomes u in “stummen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stemmen is recorded at frequency rank #20,417, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛmən]. stummen is at rank #44,951, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtʊmən].

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 65368, this pair ranks #609,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stemmen vs stummen

Shared letters: emnst. Private to "stemmen": -. Private to "stummen": u.

"stemmen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "stummen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stemmensetmmen · sstemmen · stememn · stemen · stemmenn · stemmne · stmemen · sttemmen
  • stummensstummen · stmumen · sttummen · stumemn · stumen · stummenn · stummne · sutmmen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stemmen" and "stummen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stemmen" is a verb and "stummen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "stemmen" vs "stummen" - which ranks higher?
"stemmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,417 in our German list, against #44,951 for "stummen". 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 "stemmen" and "stummen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stemmen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stummen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #609,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stemmen" and "stummen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stummen 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

Confusion rank #609,379 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