Which to use
“Stühlen” is a noun and “stützen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,050
- “Stühlen” frequency rank
- #8,789
- “stützen” frequency rank
- 27839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Stühlen | stützen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stuhl | jemanden, etwas (ab)sichern, zusätzlichen Halt geben |
Where the eye mixes Stühlen and stützen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Stühlen and stützen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Stühlen with stützen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stühlen is [ˈʃtyːlən] 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Stühlen is recorded at frequency rank #19,050, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtyːlən]. 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 27839, this pair ranks #1,794,994 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Stühlen vs stützen
Shared letters: enstü. Private to "Stühlen": hl. Private to "stützen": z.
"Stühlen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stützen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Stühlen" for "stützen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Stühlen" vs "stützen" - which ranks higher?
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 "Stühlen" 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 #1,794,994 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Stühlen" and "stützen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stühlen". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,794,994 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.