Which to use
“Stern” and “Sterne” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,617
- “Stern” frequency rank
- #2,992
- “Sterne” frequency rank
- 5609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Stern | Sterne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | massereiche, selbst leuchtende Gaskugel, Himmelskörper | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Stern |
Where the eye mixes Stern and Sterne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Stern vs Sterne
A purely visual mix-up. Stern ([ʃtɛʁn]) and Sterne ([ˈʃtɛʁnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Stern” sits inside “Sterne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Stern is recorded at frequency rank #2,617, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtɛʁn]. Sterne is at rank #2,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁnə].
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 5609, this pair ranks #1,994,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Stern vs Sterne
Shared letters: enrst. Private to "Stern": -. Private to "Sterne": -.
"Stern" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "Sterne" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Stern" and "Sterne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Stern" or "Sterne" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Stern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sterne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,994,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Stern" and "Sterne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steps vs Stern". 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 #1,994,236 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.