stöhnenvsstoneTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#20,423
“stöhnen” frequency rank
#9,099
“stone” frequency rank
29522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stöhnen stone
Definition aufgrund von Anstrengung, Erregung oder Schmerz unartikulierte Laute hervorstoßen Stein

Where the eye mixes stöhnen and stone

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
stöhnen
5 ch
stone

Visual trap between stöhnen and stone

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stöhnen is [ˈʃtøːnən] while stone is [stəʊn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stöhnen is recorded at frequency rank #20,423, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtøːnən]. stone is at rank #9,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stəʊn].

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 29522, this pair ranks #1,765,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stöhnen vs stone

Shared letters: enst. Private to "stöhnen": . Private to "stone": o.

"stöhnen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stonesotne · sstone · stnoe · stoen · stonne · sttone · tsone

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stöhnen" for "stone" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stöhnen" is a verb and "stone" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stöhnen" or "stone" show up more?
"stone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,099 in our German list, against #20,423 for "stöhnen". 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 "stöhnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,765,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stöhnen" and "stone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stöhnen vs Strähnen". 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 #1,765,236 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