StasivsstrassConfusable pair

Quick tell: Stasi is a name, strass is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Stasi” is a name and “strass” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,602
“Stasi” frequency rank
#37,570
“strass” frequency rank
74172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stasi strass
Definition Police politique et service de renseignements durant la période communiste en Allemagne de l’Est. Verroterie à base de plomb, incolore ou coloré à l’aide d’oxydes métalliques, imitant les pierres précieuses.

Where the eye mixes Stasi and strass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Stasi runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against strass's 6 (CCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Stasi
6 ch
strass

Visual trap between Stasi and strass

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Stasi is \sta.zi\ while strass is \stʁas\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stasi is recorded at frequency rank #36,602, classified as aname, pronounced \sta.zi\. strass is at rank #37,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stʁas\.

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 74172, this pair ranks #38,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Stasi vs strass

Shared letters: ast. Private to "Stasi": i. Private to "strass": r.

"Stasi" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "strass" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stasi ← satsi · sstasi · stais · stassi · stsai · sttasi · tsasi
  • strass ← srtass · sstrass · strrass · strsas · sttrass · tsrass

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Stasi" and "strass" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stasi" is a name and "strass" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "Stasi" or "strass" show up more?
"Stasi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,602 in our French list, against #37,570 for "strass". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stasi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stasi" and "strass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stase vs strass". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #38,005 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list