Stau
[ʃtaʊ̯]
The verdict
“Stau” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #7,819 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,819
- frequency rank, German
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti: Ergebnis des Stauens
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Stau |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ʃtaʊ̯] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,819 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Stau” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Stau is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʃtaʊ̯]. Corpus data places it at rank #7,819 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Stau, with forms such as "satu", "sstau", and "sttau". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ste", "STK", "StB", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Stau, spelled S-T-A-U.
Definition
- 1durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti: Ergebnis des Stauens
- 2schwere Behinderung auf Transportwegen mit der Folge: „stehender/stockender Verkehr“
- 3gestiegener Wasserstand/Pegel wegen eines Hindernisses
- 4hoher Wasserstand während der Stauzeit
- 5große Mengen Luft, die sich vor einem Gebirge auftürmen
- 6Anlage zum Aufstauen großer Wassermengen
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: satu,sstau,sttau,stua,tsau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Stau - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Stau"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Stau”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-T-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ʃtaʊ̯] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ste” - see the side-by-side comparison. Stau vs ste
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.