stehle vs Sterne, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#39,045
“stehle” frequency rank: #2,992
“Sterne” frequency rank: 42037
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	stehle	Sterne
Definition	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehlen	Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Stern

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set stehle and Sterne apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

stehle

6 ch

Sterne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehle is [ˈʃteːlə] while Sterne is [ˈʃtɛʁnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42037, 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]. Sterne is at rank #2,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁnə].

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 42037, this pair ranks #1,461,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stehle vs Sterne

Shared letters: est. Private to "stehle": hl. Private to "Sterne": nr.

"stehle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "Sterne" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

stehle ← sethle · sstehle · stehel · stehhle · stehlle · stelhe · sthele · sttehle
Sterne ← setrne · ssterne · stenre · steren · sternne · sterrne · strene · stterne

Frequency comparison

stehle#39,045

Sterne#2,992

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stehle" and "Sterne" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stehle" is a verb and "Sterne" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "stehle" or "Sterne"?

"Sterne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,992 in our German list, against #39,045 for "stehle". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering stehle vs Sterne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “stehle”; for a noun, it's “Sterne”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “stehle” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable