StiftvsstiftetTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,108
“Stift” frequency rank
#43,513
“stiftet” frequency rank
49621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stift stiftet
Definition künstlich hergestellter länglicher, meist zylindrischer Körper aus Metall oder Holz, oft mit einer Spitze, der vielfachen Verwendungsmöglichkeiten dient 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stiften

Where the eye mixes Stift and stiftet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Stift
7 ch
stiftet

Visual trap between Stift and stiftet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stift is [ʃtɪft] while stiftet is [ˈʃtɪftət]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Stift” sits inside “stiftet”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stift is recorded at frequency rank #6,108, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtɪft]. stiftet is at rank #43,513, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɪftət].

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 49621, this pair ranks #1,204,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Stift vs stiftet

Shared letters: fist. Private to "Stift": -. Private to "stiftet": e.

"Stift" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "stiftet" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stiftsitft · sstift · stfit · stifft · stiftt · stitf · sttift · tsift
  • stiftetsitftet · sstiftet · stfitet · stifett · stifftet · stiftett · stifttet · stitfet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Stift" and "stiftet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stift" is a noun and "stiftet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Stift" or "stiftet" show up more?
"Stift" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,108 in our German list, against #43,513 for "stiftet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stift" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stiftet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,204,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stift" and "stiftet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stattet vs stiftet". 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 #1,204,541 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