stehenvsstehnWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“stehen” and “stehn” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#297
“stehen” frequency rank
#24,938
“stehn” frequency rank
25235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stehen stehn
Definition sich auf den Beinen ohne Ortsveränderung aufhalten stehen

Where the eye mixes stehen and stehn

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

6 ch
stehen
5 ch
stehn

Why the eye confuses stehen with stehn

A purely visual mix-up. stehen ([ˈʃteːən]) and stehn ([ʃteːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stehen is recorded at frequency rank #297, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːən]. stehn is at rank #24,938, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃteːn].

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 25235, this pair ranks #1,836,199 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stehen vs stehn

Shared letters: ehnst. Private to "stehen": -. Private to "stehn": -.

"stehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stehn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehensethen · sstehen · steehn · stehenn · stehhen · stehne · stheen · sttehen
  • stehnsethn · sstehn · stehhn · stehnn · stenh · sthen · sttehn · tsehn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stehen" and "stehn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃteːən] versus [ʃteːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "stehen" vs "stehn" - which ranks higher?
"stehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #297 in our German list, against #24,938 for "stehn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "stehen" and "stehn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stehn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,836,199 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stehen" and "stehn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stehn vs steps". 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 #1,836,199 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