störenvsstoriesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,390
“stören” frequency rank
#10,180
“stories” frequency rank
14570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stören stories
Definition jemanden bei etwas belästigen, von etwas ablenken, einen Vorgang hemmen, ein Vorhaben hemmen, ärgerlicherweise aufhalten Plural des Substantivs story

Letter map: stören vs stories

Shared letters muted; letters that set stören and stories apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
stören
7 ch
stories

Role in the sentence - stören and stories

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stören is averb and storiesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14570, 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]. stories is at rank #10,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 14570, this pair ranks #1,950,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stören vs stories

Shared letters: erst. Private to "stören": . Private to "stories": io.

"stören" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stories" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • storiessotries · sstories · stoires · storeis · storiess · storise · storries · stroies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stören" for "stories" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stören" is a verb and "stories" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "stören" or "stories"?
"stören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,390 in our German list, against #10,180 for "stories". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "stören" vs "stories" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stories" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,950,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stören" and "stories" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs stories". 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 #1,950,272 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