SteinevsSternWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,850
“Steine” frequency rank
#2,617
“Stern” frequency rank
6467
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Steine Stern
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Stein massereiche, selbst leuchtende Gaskugel, Himmelskörper

Where the eye mixes Steine and Stern

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

6 ch
Steine
5 ch
Stern

Visual trap between Steine and Stern

A purely visual mix-up. Steine ([ˈʃtaɪ̯nə]) and Stern ([ʃtɛʁn]) 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 6467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Steine is recorded at frequency rank #3,850, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯nə]. Stern is at rank #2,617, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtɛʁn].

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 6467, this pair ranks #1,991,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Steine vs Stern

Shared letters: enst. Private to "Steine": i. Private to "Stern": r.

"Steine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Stern" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Steinesetine · ssteine · steien · steinne · stenie · stiene · stteine · tseine
  • Sternsetrn · sstern · stenr · sternn · sterrn · stren · sttern · tsern

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Steine" and "Stern" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaɪ̯nə] versus [ʃtɛʁn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Steine" or "Stern" show up more?
"Stern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,617 in our German list, against #3,850 for "Steine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Steine" and "Stern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Steine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Steine" and "Stern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Steine vs Steiners". 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 #1,991,542 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