stattvsStauWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: statt is a conjunction, Stau is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“statt” is a conjunction and “Stau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#315
“statt” frequency rank
#7,819
“Stau” frequency rank
8134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature statt Stau
Definition schließt zusammen mit der Infinitivkonjunktion ›zu‹ einen abhängigen Infinitiv an und zeigt einen Gegensatz/ eine SubstitutionSubstitutiondefiniert) -> »statt zu« durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti: Ergebnis des Stauens

Where the eye mixes statt and Stau

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

5 ch
statt
4 ch
Stau

Visual trap between statt and Stau

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: statt is [ʃtat] while Stau is [ʃtaʊ̯]. 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 (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

statt is recorded at frequency rank #315, classified as aconj, pronounced [ʃtat]. Stau is at rank #7,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʊ̯].

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 8134, this pair ranks #1,985,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of statt vs Stau

Shared letters: ast. Private to "statt": -. Private to "Stau": u.

"statt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Stau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stattsattt · sstatt · stat · sttat · sttatt · tsatt
  • Stausatu · sstau · sttau · stua · tsau

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "statt" and "Stau" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "statt" is a conjunction and "Stau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "statt" or "Stau"?
"statt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #315 in our German list, against #7,819 for "Stau". 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 "statt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "statt" and "Stau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sai vs Stau". 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 #1,985,504 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