störenvsstörendeConfusable pair

Quick tell: stören is a verb, störende is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stören” is a verb and “störende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,390
“stören” frequency rank
#35,475
“störende” frequency rank
39865
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stören störende
Definition jemanden bei etwas belästigen, von etwas ablenken, einen Vorgang hemmen, ein Vorhaben hemmen, ärgerlicherweise aufhalten Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs störend

Where the eye mixes stören and störende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
stören
8 ch
störende

Visual trap between stören and störende

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stören is [ˈʃtøːʁən] while störende is [ˈʃtøːʁəndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “stören” sits inside “störende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stören is recorded at frequency rank #4,390, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtøːʁən]. störende is at rank #35,475, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtøːʁəndə].

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 39865, this pair ranks #1,524,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stören vs störende

Shared letters: enrstö. Private to "stören": -. Private to "störende": d.

"stören" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "störende" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stören" and "störende" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stören" is a verb and "störende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stören" or "störende" show up more?
"stören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,390 in our German list, against #35,475 for "störende". 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 "stören" and "störende" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "störende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,524,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stören" and "störende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "störende vs störenden". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,524,715 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