störenvsstürzenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,390
“stören” frequency rank
#6,362
“stürzen” frequency rank
10752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stören stürzen
Definition jemanden bei etwas belästigen, von etwas ablenken, einen Vorgang hemmen, ein Vorhaben hemmen, ärgerlicherweise aufhalten eine hilflose, ungewollte Bewegung nach unten ausführen

Where the eye mixes stören and stürzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. stören runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against stürzen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
stören
7 ch
stürzen

Visual trap between stören and stürzen

A purely visual mix-up. stören ([ˈʃtøːʁən]) and stürzen ([ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩]) 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 10752, 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]. stürzen is at rank #6,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩].

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 10752, this pair ranks #1,973,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stören vs stürzen

Shared letters: enrst. Private to "stören": ö. Private to "stürzen": zü.

"stören" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stürzen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stören" and "stürzen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtøːʁən] versus [ˈʃtʏʁt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "stören" vs "stürzen" - which ranks higher?
"stören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,390 in our German list, against #6,362 for "stürzen". 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 "stören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stürzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stören" and "stürzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stürzen vs Stuten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,973,508 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