staunenvsstauntWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“staunen” and “staunt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,752
“staunen” frequency rank
#37,225
“staunt” frequency rank
47977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature staunen staunt
Definition sich über etwas wundern 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs staunen

Where the eye mixes staunen and staunt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. staunen runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against staunt's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
staunen
6 ch
staunt

Visual trap between staunen and staunt

A purely visual mix-up. staunen ([ˈʃtaʊ̯nən]) and staunt ([ʃtaʊ̯nt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

staunen is recorded at frequency rank #10,752, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʊ̯nən]. staunt is at rank #37,225, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtaʊ̯nt].

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 47977, this pair ranks #1,265,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of staunen vs staunt

Shared letters: anstu. Private to "staunen": e. Private to "staunt": -.

"staunen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "staunt" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staunen ← satunen · sstaunen · stanuen · stauenn · staunenn · staunne · staunnen · sttaunen
  • staunt ← satunt · sstaunt · stanut · staunnt · stauntt · stautn · sttaunt · stuant

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "staunen" for "staunt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaʊ̯nən] versus [ʃtaʊ̯nt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "staunen" or "staunt"?
"staunen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,752 in our German list, against #37,225 for "staunt". 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 "staunen" and "staunt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "staunen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "staunt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,265,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "staunen" and "staunt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staunt 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 #1,265,217 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