StoffvsstopftWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,921
“Stoff” frequency rank
#41,480
“stopft” frequency rank
44401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stoff stopft
Definition das Material, die Materie 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stopfen

Where the eye mixes Stoff and stopft

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

5 ch
Stoff
6 ch
stopft

Look-alike desk: Stoff vs stopft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stoff is [ʃtɔf] while stopft is [ʃtɔp͡ft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 44401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stoff is recorded at frequency rank #2,921, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtɔf]. stopft is at rank #41,480, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtɔp͡ft].

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 44401, this pair ranks #1,387,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stoff vs stopft

Shared letters: fost. Private to "Stoff": -. Private to "stopft": p.

"Stoff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "stopft" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stoffsotff · sstoff · stfof · stof · sttoff · tsoff
  • stopftsotpft · sstopft · stofpt · stopfft · stopftt · stoppft · stoptf · stpoft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stoff" and "stopft" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stoff" is a noun and "stopft" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Stoff" vs "stopft" - which ranks higher?
"Stoff" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,921 in our German list, against #41,480 for "stopft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stoff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stopft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,387,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stoff" and "stopft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stöhnt vs stopft". 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 #1,387,367 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