stehtvsstemmtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#194
“steht” frequency rank
#48,510
“stemmt” frequency rank
48704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steht stemmt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stemmen

Where the eye mixes steht and stemmt

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

5 ch
steht
6 ch
stemmt

Visual trap between steht and stemmt

A purely visual mix-up. steht ([ʃteːt]) and stemmt ([ʃtɛmt]) 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 48704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steht is recorded at frequency rank #194, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃteːt]. stemmt is at rank #48,510, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtɛmt].

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 48704, this pair ranks #1,238,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steht vs stemmt

Shared letters: est. Private to "steht": h. Private to "stemmt": m.

"steht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "stemmt" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehtsetht · ssteht · stehht · stehtt · steth · sthet · stteht · tseht
  • stemmtsetmmt · sstemmt · stemmtt · stemt · stemtm · stmemt · sttemmt · tsemmt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steht" and "stemmt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃteːt] versus [ʃtɛmt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "steht" or "stemmt"?
"steht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #194 in our German list, against #48,510 for "stemmt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "steht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stemmt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,238,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steht" and "stemmt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stemmt vs streamt". 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 #1,238,733 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