stilevsstimmWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,180
“stile” frequency rank
#30,305
“stimm” frequency rank
44485
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stile stimm
Definition Stil m 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stimmen

Where the eye mixes stile and stimm

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

5 ch
stile
5 ch
stimm

Visual trap between stile and stimm

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stile is [ˈstiːle] while stimm is [ʃtɪm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44485, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stile is recorded at frequency rank #14,180, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈstiːle]. stimm is at rank #30,305, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtɪm].

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 44485, this pair ranks #1,384,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stile vs stimm

Shared letters: ist. Private to "stile": el. Private to "stimm": m.

"stile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stimm" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stilesitle · sstile · stlie · sttile · tsile
  • stimmsitmm · sstimm · stim · stmim · sttimm · tsimm

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stile" and "stimm" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stile" is a noun and "stimm" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "stile" or "stimm"?
"stile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,180 in our German list, against #30,305 for "stimm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "stile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stimm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,384,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stile" and "stimm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stemmt vs stimm". 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 #1,384,708 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