Abstract: Provision is made of a method for determining a distance between a first structure element on a substrate and a second structure element, comprising the following steps: providing a first series of first images, wherein each of the first images comprises at least the first structure element, providing a second series of second images, wherein each of the second images comprises at least the second structure element. The method includes, for each image of the first and second series: determining a respective correlation function from a respective first image of the first series and a respective second image of the second series. The method includes determining an ensemble correlation function from the correlation functions, and determining the distance from the ensemble correlation function. Furthermore, a microscope for carrying out the method is provided.