störenvsstörtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“stören” and “stört” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,390
“stören” frequency rank
#3,778
“stört” frequency rank
8168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stören stört
Definition jemanden bei etwas belästigen, von etwas ablenken, einen Vorgang hemmen, ein Vorhaben hemmen, ärgerlicherweise aufhalten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stören

Where the eye mixes stören and stört

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

6 ch
stören
5 ch
stört

Why the eye confuses stören with stört

A purely visual mix-up. stören ([ˈʃtøːʁən]) and stört ([ʃtøːɐ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8168, 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]. stört is at rank #3,778, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃtøːɐ̯t].

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 8168, this pair ranks #1,985,359 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stören vs stört

Shared letters: rstö. Private to "stören": en. Private to "stört": -.

"stören" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stört" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stören" and "stört" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtøːʁən] versus [ʃtøːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "stören" or "stört" show up more?
"stört" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,778 in our German list, against #4,390 for "stören". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "stören" and "stört" 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 "stört" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985,359 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stören" and "stört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stören vs storia". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,985,359 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