SteckervsstockenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#14,420
“Stecker” frequency rank
#23,326
“stocken” frequency rank
37746
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stecker stocken
Definition Vorrichtung mit einem oder mehreren heraustretenden Stiften zur Herstellung einer elektrischen Verbindung einen Fortgang, eine Bewegung anhalten

Where the eye mixes Stecker and stocken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Stecker
7 ch
stocken

Visual trap between Stecker and stocken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stecker is [ˈʃtɛkɐ] while stocken is [ˈʃtɔkn̩]. 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 37746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stecker is recorded at frequency rank #14,420, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛkɐ]. stocken is at rank #23,326, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɔkn̩].

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 37746, this pair ranks #1,582,090 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stecker vs stocken

Shared letters: cekst. Private to "Stecker": r. Private to "stocken": no.

"Stecker" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "stocken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Steckersetcker · sstecker · stceker · steccker · stecekr · steckerr · steckker · steckre
  • stockensotcken · sstocken · stcoken · stoccken · stocekn · stockenn · stockken · stockne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Stecker" and "stocken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stecker" is a noun and "stocken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Stecker" or "stocken"?
"Stecker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,420 in our German list, against #23,326 for "stocken". 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 "Stecker" and "stocken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stecker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stocken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,582,090 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stecker" and "stocken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stöckchen vs stocken". 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 #1,582,090 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