Which to use
“stellen” is a verb and “stilles” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #370
- “stellen” frequency rank
- #30,790
- “stilles” frequency rank
- 31160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stellen | stilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | senkrecht, mit den Füßen den Boden, einen bestimmten Platz oder Gegenstand berührend, in eine bestimmte oder übliche Position bringen | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs still |
Where the eye mixes stellen and stilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. stellen and stilles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses stellen with stilles
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stellen is [ˈʃtɛlən] while stilles is [ˈʃtɪləs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stellen is recorded at frequency rank #370, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlən]. 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 31160, this pair ranks #1,733,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stellen vs stilles
Shared letters: elst. Private to "stellen": n. Private to "stilles": i.
"stellen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stilles" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stellen" for "stilles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "stellen" vs "stilles" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "stellen" and "stilles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stellen" 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 #1,733,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stellen" 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 #1,733,628 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.