Which to use
“Stäbchen” is a noun and “stabilen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,076
- “Stäbchen” frequency rank
- #13,029
- “stabilen” frequency rank
- 40105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Stäbchen | stabilen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kleiner Stab | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stabil |
Where the eye mixes Stäbchen and stabilen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Stäbchen and stabilen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stäbchen is [ˈʃtɛːpçən] while stabilen is [ʃtaˈbiːlən]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Stäbchen is recorded at frequency rank #27,076, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːpçən]. stabilen is at rank #13,029, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃtaˈbiːlən].
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 40105, this pair ranks #1,517,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Stäbchen vs stabilen
Shared letters: benst. Private to "Stäbchen": chä. Private to "stabilen": ail.
"Stäbchen" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC · "stabilen" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stabilen ← satbilen · sstabilen · stabbilen · stabieln · stabilenn · stabillen · stabilne · stablien
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Stäbchen" for "stabilen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Stäbchen" or "stabilen"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Stäbchen" and "stabilen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Stäbchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stabilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,517,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Stäbchen" and "stabilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stäbchen vs Ständchen". 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 #1,517,928 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.