stehenvsstehtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#297
“stehen” frequency rank
#194
“steht” frequency rank
491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stehen steht
Definition sich auf den Beinen ohne Ortsveränderung aufhalten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen

Where the eye mixes stehen and steht

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

6 ch
stehen
5 ch
steht

Visual trap between stehen and steht

A purely visual mix-up. stehen ([ˈʃteːən]) and steht ([ʃteːt]) 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 491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stehen is recorded at frequency rank #297, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːən]. steht is at rank #194, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃteːt].

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 491, this pair ranks #2,005,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stehen vs steht

Shared letters: ehst. Private to "stehen": n. Private to "steht": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehensethen · sstehen · steehn · stehenn · stehhen · stehne · stheen · sttehen
  • stehtsetht · ssteht · stehht · stehtt · steth · sthet · stteht · tseht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stehen" and "steht" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃteːən] versus [ʃteːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "stehen" or "steht" show up more?
"steht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #194 in our German list, against #297 for "stehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "steht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stehen" and "steht" 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 #2,005,775 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