stürmtvsstürmtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,786
“stürmt” frequency rank
#32,296
“stürmten” frequency rank
54082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stürmt stürmten
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stürmen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stürmen

Where the eye mixes stürmt and stürmten

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

6 ch
stürmt
8 ch
stürmten

Look-alike desk: stürmt vs stürmten

A purely visual mix-up. stürmt ([ʃtʏʁmt]) and stürmten ([ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “stürmt” sits inside “stürmten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stürmt is recorded at frequency rank #21,786, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃtʏʁmt]. stürmten is at rank #32,296, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩].

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 54082, this pair ranks #1,032,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stürmt vs stürmten

Shared letters: mrstü. Private to "stürmt": -. Private to "stürmten": en.

"stürmt" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "stürmten" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stürmt" for "stürmten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtʏʁmt] versus [ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stürmt" or "stürmten"?
"stürmt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,786 in our German list, against #32,296 for "stürmten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stürmt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stürmten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,032,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stürmt" and "stürmten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stürmten vs Stuten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,032,838 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