saivsStilWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sai is a verb, Stil is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sai” is a verb and “Stil” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,708
“sai” frequency rank
#1,942
“Stil” frequency rank
49650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sai Stil
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sapere besondere Gestaltungsweise (in Kunst, Leben, Sport und so weiter)

Where the eye mixes sai and Stil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
sai
4 ch
Stil

Why the eye confuses sai with Stil

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sai is [ˈsai̯] while Stil is [ʃtiːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sai is recorded at frequency rank #47,708, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsai̯]. Stil is at rank #1,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtiːl].

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 49650, this pair ranks #1,203,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sai vs Stil

Shared letters: is. Private to "sai": a. Private to "Stil": lt.

"sai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Stil" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stilsitl · sstil · stli · sttil · tsil

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sai" and "Stil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sai" is a verb and "Stil" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sai" vs "Stil" - which ranks higher?
"Stil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,942 in our German list, against #47,708 for "sai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,203,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sai" and "Stil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sai vs seg". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,203,440 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