Which to use
“Sühne” and “Summe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,488
- “Sühne” frequency rank
- #2,923
- “Summe” frequency rank
- 44411
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Sühne | Summe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine Wiedergutmachung, eine Genugtuung, eine Leistung für ein begangenes Unrecht oder ein Verschulden | Ergebnis einer Addition mehrerer Zahlen |
Where the eye mixes Sühne and Summe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Sühne and Summe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Sühne and Summe
A purely visual mix-up. Sühne ([ˈzyːnə]) and Summe ([ˈzʊmə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Sühne is recorded at frequency rank #41,488, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzyːnə]. Summe is at rank #2,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzʊmə].
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 44411, this pair ranks #1,387,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Sühne vs Summe
Shared letters: es. Private to "Sühne": hnü. Private to "Summe": mu.
"Sühne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Summe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Summe ← smume · ssumme · sume · sumem · usmme
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Sühne" for "Summe" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Sühne" or "Summe" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Sühne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Summe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,387,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Sühne" and "Summe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sohns vs Sühne". 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 #1,387,041 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.