Which to use
“Stufen” is a noun and “stummen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,008
- “Stufen” frequency rank
- #44,951
- “stummen” frequency rank
- 50959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Stufen | stummen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stufe | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stumm |
Where the eye mixes Stufen and stummen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Stufen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against stummen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Stufen and stummen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stufen is [ˈʃtuːfn̩] while stummen is [ˈʃtʊmən]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Stufen is recorded at frequency rank #6,008, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtuːfn̩]. 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 50959, this pair ranks #1,153,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Stufen vs stummen
Shared letters: enstu. Private to "Stufen": f. Private to "stummen": m.
"Stufen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "stummen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Stufen" and "stummen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Stufen" or "stummen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Stufen" and "stummen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Stufen" 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 #1,153,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Stufen" 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 #1,153,889 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.