StellevsstillesConfusable pair

Quick tell: Stelle is a noun, stilles is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Stelle” is a noun and “stilles” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#525
“Stelle” frequency rank
#30,790
“stilles” frequency rank
31315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stelle stilles
Definition berufliche Anstellung; Arbeitsplatz Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs still

Where the eye mixes Stelle and stilles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Stelle runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against stilles's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Stelle
7 ch
stilles

Visual trap between Stelle and stilles

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stelle is [ˈʃtɛlə] while stilles is [ˈʃtɪləs]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stelle is recorded at frequency rank #525, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlə]. stilles is at rank #30,790, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtɪləs].

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 31315, this pair ranks #1,730,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stelle vs stilles

Shared letters: elst. Private to "Stelle": -. Private to "stilles": i.

"Stelle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "stilles" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stelle ← setlle · sstelle · stelel · stlele · sttelle · tselle
  • stilles ← sitlles · sstilles · stilels · stilless · stillse · stliles · sttilles · tsilles

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stelle" for "stilles" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stelle" is a noun and "stilles" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Stelle" or "stilles" show up more?
"Stelle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #525 in our German list, against #30,790 for "stilles". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,730,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stelle" and "stilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs stilles". 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 #1,730,615 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