Which to use
“stehen” is a verb and “stehende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #297
- “stehen” frequency rank
- #6,107
- “stehende” frequency rank
- 6404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stehen | stehende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich auf den Beinen ohne Ortsveränderung aufhalten | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stehend |
Where the eye mixes stehen and stehende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. stehen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against stehende's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between stehen and stehende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehen is [ˈʃteːən] while stehende is [ˈʃteːəndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “stehen” sits inside “stehende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stehen is recorded at frequency rank #297, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːən]. stehende is at rank #6,107, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃteːəndə].
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 6404, this pair ranks #1,991,757 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stehen vs stehende
Shared letters: ehnst. Private to "stehen": -. Private to "stehende": d.
"stehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "stehende" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stehen" and "stehende" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "stehen" or "stehende" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stehende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,991,757 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stehen" and "stehende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stehen 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 #1,991,757 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.