Which to use
“smarte” is an adjective and “Stärke” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,823
- “smarte” frequency rank
- #2,998
- “Stärke” frequency rank
- 36821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smarte | Stärke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs smart | Kraft, Macht, Potenz, Vermögen, insbesondere |
Where the eye mixes smarte and Stärke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. smarte and Stärke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: smarte vs Stärke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: smarte is [ˈsmaːɐ̯tə] while Stärke is [ˈʃtɛʁkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smarte is recorded at frequency rank #33,823, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsmaːɐ̯tə]. Stärke is at rank #2,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁkə].
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 36821, this pair ranks #1,605,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of smarte vs Stärke
Shared letters: erst. Private to "smarte": am. Private to "Stärke": kä.
"smarte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "Stärke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- smarte ← msarte · samrte · smaret · smarrte · smartte · smatre · smmarte · smrate
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "smarte" and "Stärke" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "smarte" vs "Stärke" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "smarte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Stärke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,605,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smarte" and "Stärke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smarte vs stärkte". 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 #1,605,874 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.