sta vs SWR, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sta” is a verb and “SWR” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,707
“sta” frequency rank: #10,949
“SWR” frequency rank: 29656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sta	SWR
Definition	Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs star (unabhängig von Person und Numerus)	Südwestrundfunk

Letter map: sta vs SWR

Shared letters muted; letters that set sta and SWR apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

sta

3 ch

SWR

Grammar separator: sta vs SWR

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sta is averb and SWRanabbrev. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sta is recorded at frequency rank #18,707, classified as averb, pronounced […]. SWR is at rank #10,949, tagged as anabbrev.

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 29656, this pair ranks #1,762,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sta vs SWR

Shared letters: s. Private to "sta": at. Private to "SWR": rw.

"sta" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "SWR" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sta" for "SWR" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sta" is a verb and "SWR" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "sta" or "SWR" show up more?

"SWR" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,949 in our German list, against #18,707 for "sta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "sta" vs "SWR" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "sta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "SWR" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,762,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sta" and "SWR" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sta". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,762,735 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.