StädtenvsStättenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,088
“Städten” frequency rank
#21,443
“Stätten” frequency rank
23531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Städten Stätten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stätte

Same sound, different letters: Städten vs Stätten

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. Städten and Stätten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Städten
7 ch
Stätten

Ear matches; page differs - Städten and Stätten

This is the hard kind. Städten and Stätten are pronounced identically ([ˈʃtɛːtn̩]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - d in “Städten” becomes t in “Stätten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Städten is recorded at frequency rank #2,088, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːtn̩]. Stätten is at rank #21,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛtn̩].

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 23531, this pair ranks #1,860,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Städten vs Stätten

Shared letters: enstä. Private to "Städten": d. Private to "Stätten": -.

"Städten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Stätten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Städten" for "Stätten" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same ([ˈʃtɛːtn̩]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "Städten" vs "Stätten" - which ranks higher?
"Städten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,088 in our German list, against #21,443 for "Stätten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "Städten" / "Stätten". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Städten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stätten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,860,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Städten" and "Stätten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stätten vs Stuten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,860,079 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