sting

[stɪŋ]

/[stɪŋ]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“sting” has 8 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #39,049. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,049
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - die manchen Tieren und Pflanzen eigene spitze Waffe (mit Gift)

Corpus desk

Index DE-sting · sting · German

sting · rank #39,049 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,049
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH stimuliert

Nearest frequency peer: stimuliert (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „sting“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „sting“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sting vs sung
60% similar
sting vs Strg
40% similar
sting vs Stirn
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sting
PropertyValue
Headwordsting
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[stɪŋ]
Letters5
Frequency rank#39,049
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „sting“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).stingliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „stimuliert“ (#39,048), „stolperte“ (#39,050), „Stimmabgabe“ (#39,047). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „sting“ bei #39,049. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around sting (IPA [stɪŋ]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #39,049 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sting, with forms such as "sitng", "ssting", and "stign". 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, "sung", "Strg", "Stirn", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is sting, spelled S-T-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    die manchen Tieren und Pflanzen eigene spitze Waffe (mit Gift)
  2. 2
    die durch sie verursachte kleine Stichwunde
  3. 3
    der stechende oder brennende Schmerz

Synonyms

stinger

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sitng
  • ssting
  • stign
  • stingg
  • stinng
  • stnig
  • stting
  • tsing

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sting - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

sitng2ssting1stign2stingg1stinng1stnig2stting1tsing2
Edit distance from "sting"

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 "sting"?
"sting" is spelled S-T-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is [stɪŋ].
What does "sting" mean?
As a noun, "sting" means: die manchen Tieren und Pflanzen eigene spitze Waffe (mit Gift)
What words are commonly confused with "sting"?
"sting" is commonly confused with "sung", "Strg", "Stirn". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sting"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sting" is [stɪŋ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sting" come from?
"sting" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sting", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

staut#39,044trunk#39,074Scifi#39,011vitro#39,117

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

Suiten8 variantsSoltau8 variantsSchilf8 variantsRetina8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list