Which to use
“stehle” is a verb and “Stelle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,045
- “stehle” frequency rank
- #525
- “Stelle” frequency rank
- 39570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stehle | Stelle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehlen | berufliche Anstellung; Arbeitsplatz |
Where the eye mixes stehle and Stelle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. stehle and Stelle follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: stehle vs Stelle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehle is [ˈʃteːlə] while Stelle is [ˈʃtɛlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “stehle” becomes l in “Stelle”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stehle is recorded at frequency rank #39,045, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːlə]. Stelle is at rank #525, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlə].
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 39570, this pair ranks #1,533,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stehle vs Stelle
Shared letters: elst. Private to "stehle": h. Private to "Stelle": -.
"stehle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "Stelle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stehle" for "Stelle" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "stehle" or "Stelle" 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 "stehle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Stelle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,533,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stehle" and "Stelle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stehle vs Stuhls". 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 #1,533,118 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.