StabesvsstatesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,145
“Stabes” frequency rank
#14,678
“states” frequency rank
56823
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stabes states
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Stab Plural des Substantivs state

Where the eye mixes Stabes and states

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Stabes and states follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Stabes
6 ch
states

Look-alike desk: Stabes vs states

A purely visual mix-up. Stabes ([ˈʃtaːbəs]) and states ([steits]) 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 a single letter - b in “Stabes” becomes t in “states”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stabes is recorded at frequency rank #42,145, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaːbəs]. states is at rank #14,678, tagged as anoun, pronounced [steits].

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 56823, this pair ranks #925,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stabes vs states

Shared letters: aest. Private to "Stabes": b. Private to "states": -.

"Stabes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stabes ← satbes · sstabes · stabbes · stabess · stabse · staebs · stbaes · sttabes
  • states ← sattes · sstates · staets · statess · statse · stattes · sttaes · sttates

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stabes" for "states" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaːbəs] versus [steits]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Stabes" vs "states" - which ranks higher?
"states" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,678 in our German list, against #42,145 for "Stabes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Stabes" and "states" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stabes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "states" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #925,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stabes" and "states" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stabes 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 #925,242 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