stürmtenvsstürzenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,296
“stürmten” frequency rank
#6,362
“stürzen” frequency rank
38658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stürmten stürzen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stürmen eine hilflose, ungewollte Bewegung nach unten ausführen

Where the eye mixes stürmten and stürzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. stürmten runs 8 letters (CCVCCCVC) against stürzen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
stürmten
7 ch
stürzen

Why the eye confuses stürmten with stürzen

A purely visual mix-up. stürmten ([ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩]) and stürzen ([ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩]) 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 38658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stürmten is recorded at frequency rank #32,296, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩]. stürzen is at rank #6,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩].

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 38658, this pair ranks #1,558,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stürmten vs stürzen

Shared letters: enrstü. Private to "stürmten": m. Private to "stürzen": z.

"stürmten" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC  ·  "stürzen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stürmten" and "stürzen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtʏʁmtn̩] versus [ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "stürmten" vs "stürzen" - which ranks higher?
"stürzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,362 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stürmten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stürzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,558,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stürmten" and "stürzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stürmten vs Stuten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,558,100 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