Which to use
“Staaten” is a noun and “staunen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #978
- “Staaten” frequency rank
- #10,752
- “staunen” frequency rank
- 11730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Staaten | staunen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Staat | sich über etwas wundern |
Where the eye mixes Staaten and staunen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Staaten and staunen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Staaten vs staunen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Staaten is [ˈʃtaːtn̩] while staunen is [ˈʃtaʊ̯nən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Staaten is recorded at frequency rank #978, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaːtn̩]. staunen is at rank #10,752, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʊ̯nən].
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 11730, this pair ranks #1,968,246 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Staaten vs staunen
Shared letters: aenst. Private to "Staaten": -. Private to "staunen": u.
"Staaten" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "staunen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Staaten" for "staunen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Staaten" vs "staunen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Staaten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "staunen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,968,246 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Staaten" and "staunen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staunen vs Strähnen". 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 #1,968,246 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.