spuken

[ˈʃpuːkn̩]

/[ˈʃpuːkn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“spuken” is uncommon German (frequency #94,919 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,919
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - als Geist auf Erden wandeln und Unheil verbreiten, als Gespenst erscheinen

Corpus desk

Index DE-spuken · spuken · German

spuken · rank #94,919 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #94,919
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH sprechendes

Nearest frequency peer: sprechendes (-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 „spuken“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for spuken
PropertyValue
Headwordspuken
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈʃpuːkn̩]
Letters6
Frequency rank#94,919
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „spuken“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).spukenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „sprechendes“ (#94,918), „Spätlese“ (#94,920), „Sprachkompetenz“ (#94,917). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „spuken“ bei #94,919. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spuken is uncommon German at frequency #94,919 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈʃpuːkn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for spuken in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is spuken, spelled S-P-U-K-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    als Geist auf Erden wandeln und Unheil verbreiten, als Gespenst erscheinen
  2. 2
    „es spukt“: nicht mit rechten Dingen zugehen, es gibt (dort) Geister

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Sie spuken an Wegkreuzungen, entführen Kinder, bringen Krankheiten wie Fieberkrämpfe oder Wahnsinn oder verführen Männer zur Unzucht.“
  2. In dem alten Haus spukt es.

Synonyms

gespensternheimsuchenherumgeisternumhergeistern

This word in other languages

haunt(English)assombrar(Português)

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 "spuken"?
"spuken" is spelled S-P-U-K-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃpuːkn̩].
What does "spuken" mean?
As a verb, "spuken" means: als Geist auf Erden wandeln und Unheil verbreiten, als Gespenst erscheinen
How do you pronounce "spuken"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spuken" is [ˈʃpuːkn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spuken" come from?
"spuken" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "spuken", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

staubt#94,926spinal#94,911stolen#94,931Seelow#94,859

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list