shavsstuTell them apart

Quick tell: sha is a verb, stu is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sha” is a verb and “stu” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,842
“sha” frequency rank
#47,032
“stu” frequency rank
87874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sha stu
Definition eine Flüssigkeit aufnehmen; trinken Dativ Singular des Numerales sto

Where the eye mixes sha and stu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. sha and stu follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
sha
3 ch
stu

Visual trap between sha and stu

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sha is [ʃáː] while stu is [stʊ]. 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 (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sha is recorded at frequency rank #40,842, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃáː]. stu is at rank #47,032, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [stʊ].

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 87874, this pair ranks #75,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sha vs stu

Shared letters: s. Private to "sha": ah. Private to "stu": tu.

"sha" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "stu" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sha" for "stu" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sha" is a verb and "stu" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sha" or "stu"?
"sha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,842 in our German list, against #47,032 for "stu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sha" and "stu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs stu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,006 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