SilbevsStilleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,510
“Silbe” frequency rank
#4,307
“Stille” frequency rank
28817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Silbe Stille
Definition Einheit der gesprochenen Sprache, die aus mindestens einem Vokal oder Sonant besteht und die entweder Teil eines Wortes ist oder selbst ein Wort bildet. die Abwesenheit von akustischen Signalen wie Lärm, Musik, Geräusch

Where the eye mixes Silbe and Stille

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Silbe
6 ch
Stille

Visual trap between Silbe and Stille

A purely visual mix-up. Silbe ([ˈzɪlbə]) and Stille ([ˈʃtɪlə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Silbe is recorded at frequency rank #24,510, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɪlbə]. Stille is at rank #4,307, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɪlə].

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 28817, this pair ranks #1,778,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Silbe vs Stille

Shared letters: eils. Private to "Silbe": b. Private to "Stille": t.

"Silbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Stille" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Silbeislbe · sible · silbbe · sileb · sillbe · slibe · ssilbe
  • Stillesitlle · sstille · stilel · stlile · sttille · tsille

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Silbe" for "Stille" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪlbə] versus [ˈʃtɪlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Silbe" or "Stille"?
"Stille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,307 in our German list, against #24,510 for "Silbe". 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 "Silbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,778,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Silbe" and "Stille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Silbe vs Sire". 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 #1,778,066 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