Which to use
“stell” is a verb and “steril” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,077
- “stell” frequency rank
- #35,465
- “steril” frequency rank
- 38542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stell | steril |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stellen | ohne Krankheitskeime |
Where the eye mixes stell and steril
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stell and steril
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stell is [ʃtɛl] while steril is [ˌʃteˈʁiːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stell is recorded at frequency rank #3,077, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃtɛl]. steril is at rank #35,465, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌʃteˈʁiːl].
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 38542, this pair ranks #1,561,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stell vs steril
Shared letters: elst. Private to "stell": -. Private to "steril": ir.
"stell" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "steril" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stell" for "steril" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "stell" or "steril" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stell" and "steril" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stell" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "steril" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,561,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stell" and "steril" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steril vs storia". 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 #1,561,200 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.