saysvsStausWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,888
“says” frequency rank
#23,322
“Staus” frequency rank
68210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature says Staus
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs say Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Stau

Where the eye mixes says and Staus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. says runs 4 letters (CVVC) against Staus's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
says
5 ch
Staus

Visual trap between says and Staus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: says is [sɛz] while Staus is [ʃtaʊ̯s]. 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 68210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

says is recorded at frequency rank #44,888, classified as averb, pronounced [sɛz]. 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 68210, this pair ranks #515,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of says vs Staus

Shared letters: as. Private to "says": y. Private to "Staus": tu.

"says" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Staus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • says ← asys · sasy · sayss · sayys · ssays · syas
  • Staus ← satus · sstaus · stasu · stauss · stuas · tsaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "says" and "Staus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "says" is a verb and "Staus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "says" or "Staus" show up more?
"Staus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,322 in our German list, against #44,888 for "says". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "says" 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 #515,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "says" and "Staus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "says vs SUVs". 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 #515,189 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