SpartevsStarteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Sparte” and “Starte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,943
“Sparte” frequency rank
#16,555
“Starte” frequency rank
30498
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sparte Starte
Definition definierter Teil eines größeren Ganzen selten: Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Start

Where the eye mixes Sparte and Starte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Sparte
6 ch
Starte

Why the eye confuses Sparte with Starte

A purely visual mix-up. Sparte ([ˈʃpaʁtə]) and Starte ([ˈʃtaʁtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - p in “Sparte” becomes t in “Starte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sparte is recorded at frequency rank #13,943, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpaʁtə]. Starte is at rank #16,555, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtə].

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 30498, this pair ranks #1,746,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sparte vs Starte

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "Sparte": p. Private to "Starte": -.

"Sparte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Starte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spartepsarte · saprte · sparet · sparrte · spartte · spatre · spparte · sprate
  • Startesatrte · sstarte · staret · statre · strate · sttarte · tsarte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sparte" for "Starte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpaʁtə] versus [ˈʃtaʁtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Sparte" or "Starte"?
"Sparte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,943 in our German list, against #16,555 for "Starte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Sparte" and "Starte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sparte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Starte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,746,664 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sparte" and "Starte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs Starte". 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 #1,746,664 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