StichenvsstichtTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#43,512
“Stichen” frequency rank
#13,948
“sticht” frequency rank
57460
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stichen sticht
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stich 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stechen

Where the eye mixes Stichen and sticht

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

7 ch
Stichen
6 ch
sticht

Why the eye confuses Stichen with sticht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stichen is [ˈʃtɪçn̩] while sticht is [ʃtɪçt]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stichen is recorded at frequency rank #43,512, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɪçn̩]. sticht is at rank #13,948, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtɪçt].

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 57460, this pair ranks #900,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stichen vs sticht

Shared letters: chist. Private to "Stichen": en. Private to "sticht": -.

"Stichen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "sticht" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stichen ← sitchen · sstichen · stcihen · sticchen · sticehn · stichenn · stichhen · stichne
  • sticht ← sitcht · ssticht · stciht · sticcht · stichht · stichtt · sticth · stihct

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stichen" for "sticht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stichen" is a noun and "sticht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Stichen" or "sticht" show up more?
"sticht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,948 in our German list, against #43,512 for "Stichen". 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 "Stichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sticht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #900,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stichen" and "sticht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stichen vs Stilen". 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 #900,515 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