rolevsstartsTell them apart

Quick tell: role is a noun, starts is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“role” is a noun and “starts” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,998
“role” frequency rank
#22,904
“starts” frequency rank
58902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature role starts
Definition die Rolle 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs start

Letter map: role vs starts

Shared letters muted; letters that set role and starts apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. role runs 4 letters (CVCV) against starts's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
role
6 ch
starts

Role in the sentence - role and starts

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: role is anoun and startsaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

role is recorded at frequency rank #35,998, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. starts is at rank #22,904, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 58902, this pair ranks #844,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of role vs starts

Shared letters: r. Private to "role": elo. Private to "starts": ast.

"role" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "starts" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roleorle · rloe · roel · rrole
  • startssatrts · sstarts · starrts · starst · startss · startts · statrs · strats

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "role" for "starts" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "role" is a noun and "starts" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "role" vs "starts" - which ranks higher?
"starts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,904 in our German list, against #35,998 for "role". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "role" and "starts". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "role" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "starts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #844,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "role" and "starts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs role". 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 #844,952 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list