SturmvsSturmsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,558
“Sturm” frequency rank
#31,287
“Sturms” frequency rank
33845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sturm Sturms
Definition sehr starker Wind Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Sturm

Where the eye mixes Sturm and Sturms

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

5 ch
Sturm
6 ch
Sturms

Why the eye confuses Sturm with Sturms

A purely visual mix-up. Sturm ([ʃtʊʁm]) and Sturms ([ʃtʊʁms]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Sturm” sits inside “Sturms”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sturm is recorded at frequency rank #2,558, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtʊʁm]. Sturms is at rank #31,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtʊʁms].

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 33845, this pair ranks #1,676,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sturm vs Sturms

Shared letters: mrstu. Private to "Sturm": -. Private to "Sturms": -.

"Sturm" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Sturms" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sturmssturm · strum · stturm · stumr · sturmm · sturrm · sutrm · tsurm
  • Sturmsssturms · strums · stturms · stumrs · sturmms · sturmss · sturrms · stursm

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sturm" and "Sturms" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtʊʁm] versus [ʃtʊʁms]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Sturm" or "Sturms" show up more?
"Sturm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,558 in our German list, against #31,287 for "Sturms". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Sturm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sturms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,676,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sturm" and "Sturms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stunts vs Sturms". 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 #1,676,786 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