starkvsStockWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: stark is a adjective, Stock is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stark” is an adjective and “Stock” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#454
“stark” frequency rank
#3,686
“Stock” frequency rank
4140
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stark Stock
Definition mit Kraft ausgestattet, von Kraft geprägt, zeugend länglicher zylindrischer Gegenstand, meist aus Holz

Where the eye mixes stark and Stock

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
stark
5 ch
Stock

Look-alike desk: stark vs Stock

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stark is [ʃtaʁk] while Stock is [ʃtɔk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stark is recorded at frequency rank #454, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtaʁk]. Stock is at rank #3,686, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtɔk].

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 4140, this pair ranks #1,998,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stark vs Stock

Shared letters: kst. Private to "stark": ar. Private to "Stock": co.

"stark" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Stock" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • starksatrk · sstark · stakr · starkk · starrk · strak · sttark · tsark
  • Stocksotck · sstock · stcok · stocck · stockk · stokc · sttock · tsock

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stark" and "Stock" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stark" is an adjective and "Stock" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "stark" or "Stock"?
"stark" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #454 in our German list, against #3,686 for "Stock". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stock" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stark" and "Stock" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stock vs struck". 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 #1,998,469 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