StättevsstifteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,409
“Stätte” frequency rank
#17,143
“stifte” frequency rank
36552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stätte stifte
Definition besonderer Ort, an dem sich etwas befindet beziehungsweise etwas passiert ist 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stiften

Where the eye mixes Stätte and stifte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Stätte
6 ch
stifte

Why the eye confuses Stätte with stifte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stätte is [ˈʃtɛtə] while stifte is [ˈʃtɪftə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stätte is recorded at frequency rank #19,409, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛtə]. stifte is at rank #17,143, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɪftə].

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 36552, this pair ranks #1,612,689 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stätte vs stifte

Shared letters: est. Private to "Stätte": ä. Private to "stifte": fi.

"Stätte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "stifte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stiftesitfte · sstifte · stfite · stifet · stiffte · stiftte · stitfe · sttifte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stätte" and "stifte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stätte" is a noun and "stifte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Stätte" or "stifte" show up more?
"stifte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,143 in our German list, against #19,409 for "Stätte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stätte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stifte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,612,689 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stätte" and "stifte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs Stätte". 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 #1,612,689 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