stehvsSteleTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,884
“steh” frequency rank
#40,226
“Stele” frequency rank
46110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steh Stele
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen Grabstein, Gedenkstein der Antike, Pfeiler mit einer Inschrift- oder Bildtafel; heute auch moderne freistehende Informationstafel

Where the eye mixes steh and Stele

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
steh
5 ch
Stele

Look-alike desk: steh vs Stele

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steh is [ʃteː] while Stele is [ˈʃteːlə]. 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 46110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steh is recorded at frequency rank #5,884, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃteː]. Stele is at rank #40,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃteːlə].

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 46110, this pair ranks #1,330,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steh vs Stele

Shared letters: est. Private to "steh": h. Private to "Stele": l.

"steh" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Stele" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehssteh · stehh · sthe · stteh · tseh
  • Stelesetle · sstele · stlee · sttele · tsele

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "steh" and "Stele" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steh" is a verb and "Stele" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "steh" vs "Stele" - which ranks higher?
"steh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,884 in our German list, against #40,226 for "Stele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stele" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,330,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steh" and "Stele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stele 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 #1,330,286 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