SirvsStierWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,650
“Sir” frequency rank
#13,949
“Stier” frequency rank
18599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sir Stier
Definition männlicher Titel des britischen Adels männliches Hausrind, das geschlechtsreif ist

Where the eye mixes Sir and Stier

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

3 ch
Sir
5 ch
Stier

Visual trap between Sir and Stier

A purely visual mix-up. Sir ([sœːɐ̯]) and Stier ([ʃtiːɐ̯]) 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 18599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sir is recorded at frequency rank #4,650, classified as anoun, pronounced [sœːɐ̯]. Stier is at rank #13,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtiːɐ̯].

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 18599, this pair ranks #1,916,728 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sir vs Stier

Shared letters: irs. Private to "Sir": -. Private to "Stier": et.

"Sir" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Stier" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stiersiter · sstier · steir · stierr · stire · sttier · tsier

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sir" and "Stier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([sœːɐ̯] versus [ʃtiːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Sir" or "Stier"?
"Sir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,650 in our German list, against #13,949 for "Stier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,916,728 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sir" and "Stier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stier vs Stilen". 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 #1,916,728 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