stetervsstetsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: steter is a adjective, stets is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“steter” is an adjective and “stets” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,025
“steter” frequency rank
#1,337
“stets” frequency rank
48362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steter stets
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stet zu jeder Zeit, immer

Where the eye mixes steter and stets

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
steter
5 ch
stets

Visual trap between steter and stets

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steter is [ˈʃteːtɐ] while stets is [ʃteːt͡s]. 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 (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steter is recorded at frequency rank #47,025, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃteːtɐ]. stets is at rank #1,337, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ʃteːt͡s].

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 48362, this pair ranks #1,251,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steter vs stets

Shared letters: est. Private to "steter": r. Private to "stets": -.

"steter" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stets" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stetersetter · ssteter · steetr · steterr · stetre · stetter · stteer · stteter
  • stetssetts · sstets · stest · stetss · stetts · sttes · sttets · tsets

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steter" and "stets" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steter" is an adjective and "stets" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "steter" vs "stets" - which ranks higher?
"stets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,337 in our German list, against #47,025 for "steter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steter" and "stets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steter 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 #1,251,323 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