sadvsSTKWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sad is a adverb, STK is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sad” is an adverb and “STK” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,689
“sad” frequency rank
#42,155
“STK” frequency rank
65844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sad STK
Definition in diesem Augenblick; jetzt, nun Stanice Technické Kontroly

Where the eye mixes sad and STK

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
sad
3 ch
STK

Look-alike desk: sad vs STK

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sad is [ˈsad] while STK is [ɛs.tɛː.kaː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sad is recorded at frequency rank #23,689, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈsad]. STK is at rank #42,155, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ɛs.tɛː.kaː].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 65844, this pair ranks #593,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sad vs STK

Shared letters: s. Private to "sad": ad. Private to "STK": kt.

"sad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "STK" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sad" and "STK" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sad" is an adverb and "STK" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sad" vs "STK" - which ranks higher?
"sad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,689 in our German list, against #42,155 for "STK". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "STK" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #593,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sad" and "STK" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs STK". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #593,066 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list