Alptraum

[ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m]

/[ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Alptraum” has 12 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #18,154. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,154
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - unangenehmer Traum

Corpus desk

Index DE-alptraum · Alptraum · German

Alptraum · rank #18,154 · 12 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,154
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH Albums

Nearest frequency peer: Albums (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „Alptraum“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „Alptraum“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Alptraum vs Alpträume
78% similar
Alptraum vs Albtraum
88% similar
Alptraum vs Albträume
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Alptraum
PropertyValue
HeadwordAlptraum
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m]
Letters8
Frequency rank#18,154
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „Alptraum“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Alptraumliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Albums“ (#18,153), „Airline“ (#18,152), „anfertigen“ (#18,156). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „Alptraum“ bei #18,154. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around Alptraum (IPA [ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,154 among 6,976 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for Alptraum, with forms such as "allptraum", "alpptraum", and "alprtaum". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Alpträume", "Albtraum", "Albträume", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Alptraum, spelled A-L-P-T-R-A-U-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    unangenehmer Traum
  2. 2
    sehr unangenehmes Erlebnis

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Alptraum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Ich hatte häufig Alpträume, in denen ich entweder vor meiner Mutter weglief oder meine schwangere Hand hinter dem Rücken versteckte.“
  2. „Kennedy dagegen wurde von Alpträumen geplagt.“

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • allptraum
  • alpptraum
  • alprtaum
  • alptarum
  • alptramu
  • alptraumm
  • alptrraum
  • alptruam
  • alpttraum
  • altpraum
  • apltraum
  • laptraum

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Alptraum - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

allptraum1alpptraum1alprtaum2alptarum2alptramu2alptraumm1alptrraum1alptruam2
Edit distance from "Alptraum"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Alptraum"?
"Alptraum" is spelled A-L-P-T-R-A-U-M. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m].
What does "Alptraum" mean?
As a noun, "Alptraum" means: unangenehmer Traum
What words are commonly confused with "Alptraum"?
"Alptraum" is commonly confused with "Alpträume", "Albtraum", "Albträume". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Alptraum"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Alptraum" is [ˈalpˌtʁaʊ̯m]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Alptraum" come from?
"Alptraum" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Alptraum", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

abwenden#18,145Übelkeit#18,137Zigeuner#18,134badische#18,177

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Ackermann12 variantsbegnügen12 variantsVariation12 variantsTübinger12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list