StäbevsStasiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Stäbe is a noun, Stasi is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Stäbe” is a noun and “Stasi” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,472
“Stäbe” frequency rank
#9,635
“Stasi” frequency rank
45107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stäbe Stasi
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stab Geheimpolizei der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, die im In- und Ausland operierte

Where the eye mixes Stäbe and Stasi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Stäbe
5 ch
Stasi

Visual trap between Stäbe and Stasi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stäbe is [ˈʃtɛːbə] while Stasi is [ˈʃtaːzi]. 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 abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45107, 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]. Stasi is at rank #9,635, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ˈʃtaːzi].

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 45107, this pair ranks #1,364,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stäbe vs Stasi

Shared letters: st. Private to "Stäbe": beä. Private to "Stasi": ai.

"Stäbe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Stasi" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stasisatsi · sstasi · stais · stassi · stsai · sttasi · tsasi

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Stäbe" and "Stasi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stäbe" is a noun and "Stasi" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Stäbe" vs "Stasi" - which ranks higher?
"Stasi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,635 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.

Useful next steps

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 "Stasi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,364,265 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stäbe" and "Stasi" 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 #1,364,265 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