dumm
[dʊm]
The verdict
“dumm” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,472) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #1,472
- frequency rank, German
- 2,764
- “D” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - schwach an Verstand, ohne Intelligenz, ohne Können, unwissend
Corpus desk
Index DE-dumm · dumm · German
dumm · rank #1,472 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,472
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,764
- PHOTO-FINISH Dienst
Nearest frequency peer: Dienst (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “dumm”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- bezahlen
bezahlen
98,532 corpus weight
- brauche
brauche
98,531 corpus weight
- Dienst
Dienst
98,530 corpus weight
- dumm
dumm
98,529 corpus weight
- Eindruck
Eindruck
98,528 corpus weight
- enthält
enthält
98,527 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dumm” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dumm |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [dʊm] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,472 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dumm” sits in German frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for dumm is neighbouring look-alikes ("duo", "Dur", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [dʊm]. Frequency #1,472 among 2,764 “D” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for dumm, with forms such as "ddumm", "dmum", and "dum". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "duo", "Dur", "Dus", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored 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 dumm, spelled D-U-M-M.
Definition
- 1schwach an Verstand, ohne Intelligenz, ohne Können, unwissend
- 2auf unpassende und kindische Art lustig
- 3mit nachteiligen Folgen, unangenehm, übel
- 4sich taumelig, schwindelig fühlend
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dumm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Das Nachbarskind ist wirklich dumm, trotz Nachhilfe schreibt es nur Sechsen in der Schule.
3 mal 3 ist bei dir 5? Bist du dumm?
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddumm
- dmum
- dum
- udmm
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dumm - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "dumm"?
What does "dumm" mean?
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Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dumm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.