StiervsStilWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Stier” and “Stil” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,949
“Stier” frequency rank
#1,942
“Stil” frequency rank
15891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stier Stil
Definition männliches Hausrind, das geschlechtsreif ist besondere Gestaltungsweise (in Kunst, Leben, Sport und so weiter)

Where the eye mixes Stier and Stil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Stier
4 ch
Stil

Look-alike desk: Stier vs Stil

A purely visual mix-up. Stier ([ʃtiːɐ̯]) and Stil ([ʃtiːl]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stier is recorded at frequency rank #13,949, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtiːɐ̯]. Stil is at rank #1,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtiːl].

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 15891, this pair ranks #1,940,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stier vs Stil

Shared letters: ist. Private to "Stier": er. Private to "Stil": l.

"Stier" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Stil" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stiersiter · sstier · steir · stierr · stire · sttier · tsier
  • Stilsitl · sstil · stli · sttil · tsil

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Stier" for "Stil" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtiːɐ̯] versus [ʃtiːl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Stier" or "Stil" show up more?
"Stil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,942 in our German list, against #13,949 for "Stier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Stier" and "Stil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,940,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stier" and "Stil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stier 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 #1,940,288 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