StällevsstellaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,926
“Ställe” frequency rank
#13,242
“stella” frequency rank
48168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ställe stella
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stall der Stern: massereiche, selbstleuchtende Gaskugel im Universum

Where the eye mixes Ställe and stella

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Ställe and stella follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Ställe
6 ch
stella

Why the eye confuses Ställe with stella

A purely visual mix-up. Ställe ([ˈʃtɛlə]) and stella ([ˈstella]) 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 48168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ställe is recorded at frequency rank #34,926, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlə]. stella is at rank #13,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈstella].

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 48168, this pair ranks #1,258,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ställe vs stella

Shared letters: elst. Private to "Ställe": ä. Private to "stella": a.

"Ställe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "stella" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stella ← setlla · sstella · stela · stelal · stlela · sttella · tsella

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ställe" for "stella" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛlə] versus [ˈstella]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ställe" vs "stella" - which ranks higher?
"stella" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,242 in our German list, against #34,926 for "Ställe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ställe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stella" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,258,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ställe" and "stella" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ställe vs staune". 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 #1,258,353 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