Which to use
“shut” is a verb and “spät” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,728
- “shut” frequency rank
- #1,335
- “spät” frequency rank
- 49063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | spät |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schließen | zeitlich fortgeschritten, kurz vor Schluss, gegen Ende |
Where the eye mixes shut and spät
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: shut vs spät
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shut is [ʃʌt] while spät is [ʃpɛːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shut is recorded at frequency rank #47,728, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃʌt]. spät is at rank #1,335, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃpɛːt].
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 49063, this pair ranks #1,225,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs spät
Shared letters: st. Private to "shut": hu. Private to "spät": pä.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "spät" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- shut ← shhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shut" and "spät" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "shut" or "spät" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spät" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,225,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "spät" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs shut". 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 #1,225,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.