stehtvsstrebtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#194
“steht” frequency rank
#13,493
“strebt” frequency rank
13687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steht strebt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs streben

Where the eye mixes steht and strebt

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

5 ch
steht
6 ch
strebt

Why the eye confuses steht with strebt

A purely visual mix-up. steht ([ʃteːt]) and strebt ([ʃtʁeːpt]) 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 13687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steht is recorded at frequency rank #194, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃteːt]. strebt is at rank #13,493, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtʁeːpt].

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 13687, this pair ranks #1,956,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of steht vs strebt

Shared letters: est. Private to "steht": h. Private to "strebt": br.

"steht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "strebt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehtsetht · ssteht · stehht · stehtt · steth · sthet · stteht · tseht
  • strebtsrtebt · sstrebt · sterbt · strbet · strebbt · strebtt · stretb · strrebt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "steht" and "strebt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʃteːt] versus [ʃtʁeːpt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "steht" or "strebt"?
"steht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #194 in our German list, against #13,493 for "strebt". 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 "steht" and "strebt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "steht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strebt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,956,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steht" and "strebt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "strebt vs stresst". 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 #1,956,391 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