stillvsStilleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: still is a adjective, Stille is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“still” is an adjective and “Stille” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,993
“still” frequency rank
#4,307
“Stille” frequency rank
7300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature still Stille
Definition im Zustand der Bewegungslosigkeit, der Unbewegtheit und der Ruhe die Abwesenheit von akustischen Signalen wie Lärm, Musik, Geräusch

Where the eye mixes still and Stille

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

5 ch
still
6 ch
Stille

Visual trap between still and Stille

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: still is [ʃtɪl] while Stille is [ˈʃtɪlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “still” sits inside “Stille”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

still is recorded at frequency rank #2,993, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtɪl]. Stille is at rank #4,307, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɪlə].

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 7300, this pair ranks #1,988,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of still vs Stille

Shared letters: ilst. Private to "still": -. Private to "Stille": e.

"still" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Stille" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stillsitll · sstill · stlil · sttill · tsill
  • Stillesitlle · sstille · stilel · stlile · sttille · tsille

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "still" and "Stille" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "still" is an adjective and "Stille" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "still" or "Stille" show up more?
"still" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,993 in our German list, against #4,307 for "Stille". 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 "still" and "Stille" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "still" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "still" and "Stille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stille". 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 #1,988,659 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