Which to use
“sum” is a verb and “Sumpf” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,289
- “sum” frequency rank
- #12,800
- “Sumpf” frequency rank
- 44089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sum | Sumpf |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse | flache, stehende Wasserfläche mit Vegetation |
Letter map: sum vs Sumpf
Shared letters muted; letters that set sum and Sumpf apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for sum / Sumpf
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sum is averb and Sumpfanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sum” sits inside “Sumpf”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sum is recorded at frequency rank #31,289, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Sumpf is at rank #12,800, tagged as anoun, pronounced [zʊmp͡f].
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 44089, this pair ranks #1,397,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sum vs Sumpf
Shared letters: msu. Private to "sum": -. Private to "Sumpf": fp.
"sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Sumpf" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Sumpf ← smupf · ssumpf · sumfp · summpf · sumpff · sumppf · supmf · usmpf
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sum" for "Sumpf" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sum" or "Sumpf" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "sum" and "Sumpf". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sumpf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,397,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sum" and "Sumpf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sum". 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 #1,397,392 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.