StelevsstoneTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,226
“Stele” frequency rank
#9,099
“stone” frequency rank
49325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stele stone
Definition Grabstein, Gedenkstein der Antike, Pfeiler mit einer Inschrift- oder Bildtafel; heute auch moderne freistehende Informationstafel Stein

Where the eye mixes Stele and stone

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Stele
5 ch
stone

Look-alike desk: Stele vs stone

A purely visual mix-up. Stele ([ˈʃteːlə]) and stone ([stəʊn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stele is recorded at frequency rank #40,226, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃteːlə]. stone is at rank #9,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stəʊn].

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 49325, this pair ranks #1,215,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stele vs stone

Shared letters: est. Private to "Stele": l. Private to "stone": no.

"Stele" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stelesetle · sstele · stlee · sttele · tsele
  • stonesotne · sstone · stnoe · stoen · stonne · sttone · tsone

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stele" and "stone" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃteːlə] versus [stəʊn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Stele" or "stone" show up more?
"stone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,099 in our German list, against #40,226 for "Stele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,215,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stele" and "stone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stele vs Stilen". 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 #1,215,732 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