StabvsStadtConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,269
“Stab” frequency rank
#206
“Stadt” frequency rank
9475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stab Stadt
Definition länglicher zylindrischer Gegenstand meist größere, zivile, zentralisierte, abgegrenzte, häufig und oft historisch mit Stadtrechten ausgestattete Siedlung

Where the eye mixes Stab and Stadt

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

4 ch
Stab
5 ch
Stadt

Look-alike desk: Stab vs Stadt

A purely visual mix-up. Stab ([ʃtaːp]) and Stadt ([ʃtat]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stab is recorded at frequency rank #9,269, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaːp]. Stadt is at rank #206, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtat].

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 9475, this pair ranks #1,979,772 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stab vs Stadt

Shared letters: ast. Private to "Stab": b. Private to "Stadt": d.

"Stab" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Stadt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stabsatb · sstab · stabb · stba · sttab · tsab
  • Stadtsatdt · sstadt · staddt · stadtt · statd · stdat · sttadt · tsadt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stab" and "Stadt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtaːp] versus [ʃtat]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Stab" or "Stadt" show up more?
"Stadt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #206 in our German list, against #9,269 for "Stab". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stadt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,979,772 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stab" and "Stadt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sai vs Stab". 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 #1,979,772 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