StäbevsstageWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,472
“Stäbe” frequency rank
#15,753
“stage” frequency rank
51225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stäbe stage
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stab Etappe, Stadium, Station in einem Prozess

Where the eye mixes Stäbe and stage

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

5 ch
Stäbe
5 ch
stage

Look-alike desk: Stäbe vs stage

A purely visual mix-up. Stäbe ([ˈʃtɛːbə]) and stage ([steɪdʒ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stäbe is recorded at frequency rank #35,472, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːbə]. stage is at rank #15,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced [steɪdʒ].

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 51225, this pair ranks #1,143,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stäbe vs stage

Shared letters: est. Private to "Stäbe": . Private to "stage": ag.

"Stäbe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stagesstage · staeg · stagge · stgae · sttage · tsage

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stäbe" for "stage" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛːbə] versus [steɪdʒ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Stäbe" vs "stage" - which ranks higher?
"stage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,753 in our German list, against #35,472 for "Stäbe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stäbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,143,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stäbe" and "stage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stäbe vs Stuben". 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 #1,143,721 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