Which to use
“sort” is an adjective and “stört” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,634
- “sort” frequency rank
- #3,778
- “stört” frequency rank
- 43412
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sort | stört |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine schwarze Farbe habend | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stören |
Where the eye mixes sort and stört
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sort with stört
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sort is [soɒ̯d] while stört is [ʃtøːɐ̯t]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sort is recorded at frequency rank #39,634, classified as anadj, pronounced [soɒ̯d]. stört is at rank #3,778, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtøːɐ̯t].
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 43412, this pair ranks #1,418,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sort vs stört
Shared letters: rst. Private to "sort": o. Private to "stört": ö.
"sort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "stört" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sort ← osrt · sorrt · sortt · sotr · srot · ssort
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sort" for "stört" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sort" or "stört" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sort" and "stört" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stört" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,418,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sort" and "stört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sort vs surft". 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 #1,418,939 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.