SASvsStausTell them apart

Which to use

“SAS” and “Staus” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,150
“SAS” frequency rank
#23,322
“Staus” frequency rank
49472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature SAS Staus
Definition Sondereinheit der britischen Armee Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Stau

Where the eye mixes SAS and Staus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
SAS
5 ch
Staus

Visual trap between SAS and Staus

A purely visual mix-up. SAS ([ɛsʔɛɪ̯ˈɛs]) and Staus ([ʃtaʊ̯s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

SAS is recorded at frequency rank #26,150, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɛsʔɛɪ̯ˈɛs]. Staus is at rank #23,322, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʊ̯s].

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 49472, this pair ranks #1,210,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of SAS vs Staus

Shared letters: as. Private to "SAS": -. Private to "Staus": tu.

"SAS" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Staus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Staussatus · sstaus · stasu · stauss · stuas · tsaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "SAS" and "Staus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛsʔɛɪ̯ˈɛs] versus [ʃtaʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "SAS" or "Staus"?
"Staus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,322 in our German list, against #26,150 for "SAS". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "SAS" and "Staus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "SAS" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Staus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,210,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "SAS" and "Staus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SAS 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 #1,210,249 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