sterbenvsStürmenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sterben is a verb, Stürmen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sterben” is a verb and “Stürmen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,336
“sterben” frequency rank
#11,761
“Stürmen” frequency rank
13097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sterben Stürmen
Definition aufhören zu leben Dativ Plural des Substantivs Sturm

Where the eye mixes sterben and Stürmen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sterben and Stürmen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
sterben
7 ch
Stürmen

Look-alike desk: sterben vs Stürmen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sterben is [ˈʃtɛʁbn̩] while Stürmen is [ˈʃtʏʁmən]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sterben is recorded at frequency rank #1,336, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁbn̩]. Stürmen is at rank #11,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʏʁmən].

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 13097, this pair ranks #1,960,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sterben vs Stürmen

Shared letters: enrst. Private to "sterben": b. Private to "Stürmen": mü.

"sterben" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Stürmen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sterben ← setrben · ssterben · stebren · sterbben · sterbenn · sterbne · sterebn · sterrben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sterben" for "Stürmen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sterben" is a verb and "Stürmen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sterben" vs "Stürmen" - which ranks higher?
"sterben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,336 in our German list, against #11,761 for "Stürmen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sterben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stürmen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,960,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sterben" and "Stürmen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stürmen vs Stuten". 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 #1,960,144 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