StufenvsStundenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,008
“Stufen” frequency rank
#387
“Stunden” frequency rank
6395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stufen Stunden
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stufe Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stunde

Where the eye mixes Stufen and Stunden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Stufen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against Stunden's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Stufen
7 ch
Stunden

Look-alike desk: Stufen vs Stunden

A purely visual mix-up. Stufen ([ˈʃtuːfn̩]) and Stunden ([ˈʃtʊndn̩]) 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 6395, 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]. Stunden is at rank #387, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʊndn̩].

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 6395, this pair ranks #1,991,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stufen vs Stunden

Shared letters: enstu. Private to "Stufen": f. Private to "Stunden": d.

"Stufen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Stunden" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stufensstufen · stfuen · sttufen · stuefn · stufenn · stuffen · stufne · sutfen
  • Stundensstunden · stnuden · sttunden · studnen · stundden · stundenn · stundne · stunedn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stufen" for "Stunden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtuːfn̩] versus [ˈʃtʊndn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Stufen" or "Stunden" show up more?
"Stunden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #387 in our German list, against #6,008 for "Stufen". 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 "Stufen" and "Stunden" 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 "Stunden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stufen" and "Stunden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stufen". 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 #1,991,789 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