strammvsstreamTell them apart

Quick tell: stramm is a adjective, stream is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#29,807
“stramm” frequency rank
#4,938
“stream” frequency rank
34745
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stramm stream
Definition den Körper fest umschließend, sehr eng anliegend 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs streamen

Where the eye mixes stramm and stream

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
stramm
6 ch
stream

Why the eye confuses stramm with stream

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stramm is [ʃtʁam] while stream is [stʁiːm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stramm is recorded at frequency rank #29,807, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtʁam]. stream is at rank #4,938, tagged as averb, pronounced [stʁiːm].

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 34745, this pair ranks #1,656,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stramm vs stream

Shared letters: amrst. Private to "stramm": -. Private to "stream": e.

"stramm" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "stream" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • strammsrtamm · sstramm · starmm · stram · strmam · strramm · sttramm · tsramm
  • streamsrteam · sstream · steram · straem · streamm · strema · strream · sttream

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stramm" for "stream" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stramm" is an adjective and "stream" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stramm" or "stream" show up more?
"stream" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,938 in our German list, against #29,807 for "stramm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stramm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stream" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,656,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stramm" and "stream" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stramm vs streamt". 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 #1,656,318 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