stechenvsStegenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: stechen is a verb, Stegen is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stechen” is a verb and “Stegen” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,986
“stechen” frequency rank
#39,645
“Stegen” frequency rank
49631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stechen Stegen
Definition einen spitzen Gegenstand wie eine Nadel in einen anderen Gegenstand treiben eine Gemeinde in Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes stechen and Stegen

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

7 ch
stechen
6 ch
Stegen

Visual trap between stechen and Stegen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stechen is [ˈʃtɛçn̩] while Stegen is [ˈʃteːɡn̩]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stechen is recorded at frequency rank #9,986, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛçn̩]. Stegen is at rank #39,645, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈʃteːɡn̩].

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 49631, this pair ranks #1,204,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stechen vs Stegen

Shared letters: enst. Private to "stechen": ch. Private to "Stegen": g.

"stechen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Stegen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stechen ← setchen · sstechen · stcehen · stecchen · stecehn · stechenn · stechhen · stechne
  • Stegen ← setgen · sstegen · steegn · stegenn · steggen · stegne · stgeen · sttegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stechen" and "Stegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stechen" is a verb and "Stegen" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stechen" or "Stegen" show up more?
"stechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,986 in our German list, against #39,645 for "Stegen". 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 "stechen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,204,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stechen" and "Stegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stegen vs Stilen". 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 #1,204,177 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