diffus

[dɪˈfuːs]

/[dɪˈfuːs]/ adj

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

The verdict

“diffus” is uncommon German (frequency #51,241 among 2,764 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,241
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ohne klare Konturen; nicht klar und geordnet

Corpus desk

Index DE-diffus · diffus · German

diffus · rank #51,241 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,241
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Dienstleistun…

Nearest frequency peer: Dienstleistungssektor (-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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „diffus“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „diffus“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for diffus
PropertyValue
Headworddiffus
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[dɪˈfuːs]
Letters6
Frequency rank#51,241
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „diffus“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).diffusfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Dienstleistungssektor“ (#51,240), „dienende“ (#51,239), „dire“ (#51,243). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „diffus“ bei #51,241. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

diffus is uncommon German at frequency #51,241 among 2,764 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [dɪˈfuːs]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

diffus doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is diffus, spelled D-I-F-F-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    ohne klare Konturen; nicht klar und geordnet
  2. 2
    zerstreut; unscharf, schwer abgrenzbar

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Er war von einer diffusen Angst befallen.
  2. Er hat nur eine diffuse Vorstellung davon, was ein Kunststudium mit sich bringt.

Synonyms

undeutlichunklarverschwommenzerstreut

Antonyms

klar

This word in other languages

vague(English)diffus(Français)

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 "diffus"?
"diffus" is spelled D-I-F-F-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is [dɪˈfuːs].
What does "diffus" mean?
As an adjective, "diffus" means: ohne klare Konturen; nicht klar und geordnet
How do you pronounce "diffus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "diffus" is [dɪˈfuːs]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "diffus" come from?
"diffus" 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 "diffus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Doodle#51,246dehnte#51,225crunch#51,213Bummel#51,188

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list