StällevsstellenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ställe is a noun, stellen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ställe” is a noun and “stellen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,926
“Ställe” frequency rank
#370
“stellen” frequency rank
35296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ställe stellen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stall senkrecht, mit den Füßen den Boden, einen bestimmten Platz oder Gegenstand berührend, in eine bestimmte oder übliche Position bringen

Where the eye mixes Ställe and stellen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Ställe runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against stellen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Ställe
7 ch
stellen

Visual trap between Ställe and stellen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ställe is [ˈʃtɛlə] while stellen is [ˈʃtɛlən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35296, 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]. stellen is at rank #370, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlən].

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 35296, this pair ranks #1,643,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ställe vs stellen

Shared letters: elst. Private to "Ställe": ä. Private to "stellen": n.

"Ställe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "stellen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stellen ← setllen · sstellen · steleln · stellenn · stellne · stlelen · sttellen · tsellen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ställe" and "stellen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ställe" is a noun and "stellen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ställe" or "stellen"?
"stellen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #370 in our German list, against #34,926 for "Ställe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "stellen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,643,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ställe" and "stellen" 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 #1,643,344 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