umkommen

[ˈʊmˌkɔmən]

/[ˈʊmˌkɔmən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“umkommen” is uncommon German (frequency #59,262 among 2,159 “U” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,262
frequency rank, German
2,159
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - auf ungewöhnliche Weise das Leben verlieren

Corpus desk

Index DE-umkommen · umkommen · German

umkommen · rank #59,262 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,262
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,159
  • PHOTO-FINISH umgedeutet

Nearest frequency peer: umgedeutet (-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 „umkommen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for umkommen
PropertyValue
Headwordumkommen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈʊmˌkɔmən]
Letters8
Frequency rank#59,262
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „umkommen“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „umgedeutet“ (#59,261), „Umwelttechnik“ (#59,263), „Umbruchs“ (#59,260). Unter 2,159 „U“-Lemmata liegt „umkommen“ bei #59,262. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

umkommen is uncommon German at frequency #59,262 among 2,159 “U” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈʊmˌkɔmən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for umkommen, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is umkommen, spelled U-M-K-O-M-M-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    auf ungewöhnliche Weise das Leben verlieren
  2. 2
    schlecht werden

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Er kam durch eine Gasexplosion um.
  2. „Jeder vierte Weißrusse ist im Zweiten Weltkrieg umgekommen, ein weiteres Viertel von den Deutschen zum Arbeitsdienst verschleppt worden – die Hälfte der Bevölkerung war 1944 tot oder deportiert.“

Synonyms

sterbenverderbenvergammelnverrotten

Antonyms

überlebenweiterleben

This word in other languages

perish(English)périr(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 "umkommen"?
"umkommen" is spelled U-M-K-O-M-M-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʊmˌkɔmən].
What does "umkommen" mean?
As a verb, "umkommen" means: auf ungewöhnliche Weise das Leben verlieren
How do you pronounce "umkommen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "umkommen" is [ˈʊmˌkɔmən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "umkommen" come from?
"umkommen" 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 "umkommen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Umbruchs#59,260unbefugt#59,264Törtchen#59,256Unterart#59,273

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list