Which to use
“stolzen” is an adjective and “stützen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,070
- “stolzen” frequency rank
- #8,789
- “stützen” frequency rank
- 28859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stolzen | stützen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stolz | jemanden, etwas (ab)sichern, zusätzlichen Halt geben |
Where the eye mixes stolzen and stützen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. stolzen and stützen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: stolzen vs stützen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stolzen is [ˈʃtɔlt͡sn̩] while stützen is [ˈʃtʏt͡sn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stolzen is recorded at frequency rank #20,070, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtɔlt͡sn̩]. stützen is at rank #8,789, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏt͡sn̩].
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 28859, this pair ranks #1,777,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stolzen vs stützen
Shared letters: enstz. Private to "stolzen": lo. Private to "stützen": ü.
"stolzen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stützen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stolzen ← sotlzen · sstolzen · stlozen · stolezn · stollzen · stolzenn · stolzne · stolzzen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stolzen" for "stützen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "stolzen" or "stützen" show up more?
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 "stolzen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stützen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,777,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stolzen" and "stützen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs stolzen". 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 #1,777,290 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.