skatevsStäbeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#45,585
“skate” frequency rank
#35,472
“Stäbe” frequency rank
81057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature skate Stäbe
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs skaten Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stab

Where the eye mixes skate and Stäbe

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

5 ch
skate
5 ch
Stäbe

Visual trap between skate and Stäbe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: skate is [ˈskɛɪ̯tə] while Stäbe is [ˈʃtɛːbə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

skate is recorded at frequency rank #45,585, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈskɛɪ̯tə]. Stäbe is at rank #35,472, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːbə].

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 81057, this pair ranks #183,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of skate vs Stäbe

Shared letters: est. Private to "skate": ak. Private to "Stäbe": .

"skate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Stäbe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • skatesakte · skaet · skatte · skkate · sktae · sskate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "skate" for "Stäbe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "skate" is a verb and "Stäbe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "skate" vs "Stäbe" - which ranks higher?
"Stäbe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,472 in our German list, against #45,585 for "skate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "skate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stäbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #183,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "skate" and "Stäbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skate vs Späth". 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 #183,132 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