StoffvsSuffWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,921
“Stoff” frequency rank
#42,164
“Suff” frequency rank
45085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stoff Suff
Definition das Material, die Materie Trunk- oder Alkoholsucht

Where the eye mixes Stoff and Suff

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Stoff
4 ch
Suff

Look-alike desk: Stoff vs Suff

A purely visual mix-up. Stoff ([ʃtɔf]) and Suff ([zʊf]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45085, 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]. Suff is at rank #42,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced [zʊf].

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 45085, this pair ranks #1,364,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stoff vs Suff

Shared letters: fs. Private to "Stoff": ot. Private to "Suff": u.

"Stoff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Suff" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stoffsotff · sstoff · stfof · stof · sttoff · tsoff
  • Suffsfuf · ssuff · suf · usff

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stoff" and "Suff" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtɔf] versus [zʊf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Stoff" vs "Suff" - which ranks higher?
"Stoff" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,921 in our German list, against #42,164 for "Suff". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stoff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Suff" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,364,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stoff" and "Suff" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Suff vs surft". 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 #1,364,999 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