stationärvsStationenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,522
“stationär” frequency rank
#4,561
“Stationen” frequency rank
29083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stationär Stationen
Definition an einen festen Ort gebunden, ortsfest (zum Beispiel: Handel, Gewerbe, Militärbesatzung) Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Station

Where the eye mixes stationär and Stationen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. stationär and Stationen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
stationär
9 ch
Stationen

Look-alike desk: stationär vs Stationen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stationär is [ʃtat͡si̯oˈnɛːɐ̯] while Stationen is [ʃtaˈt͡si̯oːnən]. 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 29083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stationär is recorded at frequency rank #24,522, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtat͡si̯oˈnɛːɐ̯]. Stationen is at rank #4,561, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaˈt͡si̯oːnən].

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 29083, this pair ranks #1,773,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stationär vs Stationen

Shared letters: ainost. Private to "stationär": rä. Private to "Stationen": e.

"stationär" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC  ·  "Stationen" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stationen ← sattionen · sstationen · staitonen · statinoen · statioenn · stationenn · stationne · stationnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stationär" and "Stationen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stationär" is an adjective and "Stationen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "stationär" or "Stationen"?
"Stationen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,561 in our German list, against #24,522 for "stationär". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stationär" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stationen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,773,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stationär" and "Stationen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stationär vs stationärer". 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 #1,773,365 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