stummenvssummenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,951
“stummen” frequency rank
#8,791
“summen” frequency rank
53742
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stummen summen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stumm ohne Text, meist mit geschlossenen Lippen, die Melodie zu einem Lied von sich geben

Where the eye mixes stummen and summen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
stummen
6 ch
summen

Look-alike desk: stummen vs summen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stummen is [ˈʃtʊmən] while summen is [ˈzʊmən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stummen is recorded at frequency rank #44,951, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtʊmən]. summen is at rank #8,791, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzʊmən].

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 53742, this pair ranks #1,046,058 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stummen vs summen

Shared letters: emnsu. Private to "stummen": t. Private to "summen": -.

"stummen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "summen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stummensstummen · stmumen · sttummen · stumemn · stumen · stummenn · stummne · sutmmen
  • summensmumen · ssummen · sumemn · sumen · summenn · summne · usmmen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stummen" and "summen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stummen" is an adjective and "summen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "stummen" vs "summen" - which ranks higher?
"summen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,791 in our German list, against #44,951 for "stummen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stummen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "summen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,046,058 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stummen" and "summen" 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 #1,046,058 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