SteinsvsSternWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,806
“Steins” frequency rank
#2,617
“Stern” frequency rank
34423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Steins Stern
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Stein massereiche, selbst leuchtende Gaskugel, Himmelskörper

Where the eye mixes Steins and Stern

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

6 ch
Steins
5 ch
Stern

Look-alike desk: Steins vs Stern

A purely visual mix-up. Steins ([ʃtaɪ̯ns]) 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 34423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Steins is recorded at frequency rank #31,806, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaɪ̯ns]. 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 34423, this pair ranks #1,663,669 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Steins vs Stern

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

"Steins" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "Stern" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Steinssetins · ssteins · steinns · steinss · steisn · stenis · stiens · stteins
  • Sternsetrn · sstern · stenr · sternn · sterrn · stren · sttern · tsern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Steins" for "Stern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtaɪ̯ns] versus [ʃtɛʁn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Steins" 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 #31,806 for "Steins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Steins" 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 #1,663,669 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Steins" and "Stern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steigst vs Steins". 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 #1,663,669 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