stehevsStelenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,179
“stehe” frequency rank
#46,297
“Stelen” frequency rank
48476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stehe Stelen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stele

Where the eye mixes stehe and Stelen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
stehe
6 ch
Stelen

Visual trap between stehe and Stelen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehe is [ˈʃteːə] while Stelen is [ˈʃteːlən]. 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 48476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stehe is recorded at frequency rank #2,179, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːə]. Stelen is at rank #46,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃteːlən].

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 48476, this pair ranks #1,247,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stehe vs Stelen

Shared letters: est. Private to "stehe": h. Private to "Stelen": ln.

"stehe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Stelen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehesethe · sstehe · steeh · stehhe · sthee · sttehe · tsehe
  • Stelensstelen · steeln · stelenn · stelne · stleen · sttelen · tselen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stehe" and "Stelen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stehe" is a verb and "Stelen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stehe" or "Stelen" show up more?
"stehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,179 in our German list, against #46,297 for "Stelen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stehe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stelen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,247,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stehe" and "Stelen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stelen 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 #1,247,221 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