SkatvsspartTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#44,227
“Skat” frequency rank
#7,669
“spart” frequency rank
51896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Skat spart
Definition Kartenspiel für drei Personen, bei dem in jeder Runde ein Spieler bestimmt wird, der gegen die beiden anderen spielt 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sparen

Where the eye mixes Skat and spart

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Skat runs 4 letters (CCVC) against spart's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Skat
5 ch
spart

Why the eye confuses Skat with spart

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Skat is [skaːt] while spart is [ʃpaːɐ̯t]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Skat is recorded at frequency rank #44,227, classified as anoun, pronounced [skaːt]. spart is at rank #7,669, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpaːɐ̯t].

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 51896, this pair ranks #1,117,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Skat vs spart

Shared letters: ast. Private to "Skat": k. Private to "spart": pr.

"Skat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "spart" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Skat ← ksat · sakt · skatt · skkat · skta · sskat
  • spart ← psart · saprt · sparrt · spartt · spatr · sppart · sprat · sspart

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Skat" for "spart" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Skat" is a noun and "spart" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Skat" vs "spart" - which ranks higher?
"spart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,669 in our German list, against #44,227 for "Skat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Skat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spart" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,117,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Skat" and "spart" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Skat vs Späth". 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 #1,117,864 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