Which to use
“stechen” is a verb and “Stephan” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,986
- “stechen” frequency rank
- #4,465
- “Stephan” frequency rank
- 14451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stechen | Stephan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einen spitzen Gegenstand wie eine Nadel in einen anderen Gegenstand treiben | deutscher Nachname, Familienname |
Where the eye mixes stechen and Stephan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stechen with Stephan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stechen is [ˈʃtɛçn̩] while Stephan is [ˈʃtɛfan]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14451, 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]. Stephan is at rank #4,465, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈʃtɛfan].
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 14451, this pair ranks #1,951,138 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stechen vs Stephan
Shared letters: ehnst. Private to "stechen": c. Private to "Stephan": ap.
"stechen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "Stephan" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stechen" for "Stephan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "stechen" or "Stephan"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "stechen" and "Stephan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stechen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Stephan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,951,138 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stechen" and "Stephan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Speichen vs stechen". 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 #1,951,138 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.