staunevsstoneConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#45,605
“staune” frequency rank
#9,099
“stone” frequency rank
54704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature staune stone
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs staunen Stein

Where the eye mixes staune and stone

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

6 ch
staune
5 ch
stone

Why the eye confuses staune with stone

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: staune is [ˈʃtaʊ̯nə] while stone is [stəʊn]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

staune is recorded at frequency rank #45,605, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʊ̯nə]. stone is at rank #9,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stəʊn].

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 54704, this pair ranks #1,008,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of staune vs stone

Shared letters: enst. Private to "staune": au. Private to "stone": o.

"staune" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staunesatune · sstaune · stanue · stauen · sttaune · stuane · tsaune
  • stonesotne · sstone · stnoe · stoen · stonne · sttone · tsone

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "staune" and "stone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "staune" is a verb and "stone" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "staune" or "stone" show up more?
"stone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,099 in our German list, against #45,605 for "staune". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "staune" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,008,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "staune" and "stone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staune vs strunz". 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 #1,008,427 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