Which to use
“spät” and “späte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,335
- “spät” frequency rank
- #11,757
- “späte” frequency rank
- 13092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spät | späte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zeitlich fortgeschritten, kurz vor Schluss, gegen Ende | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spät |
Where the eye mixes spät and späte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. spät runs 4 letters (CCVC) against späte's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: spät vs späte
A purely visual mix-up. spät ([ʃpɛːt]) and späte ([ˈʃpɛːtə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “spät” sits inside “späte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spät is recorded at frequency rank #1,335, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃpɛːt]. späte is at rank #11,757, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːtə].
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 13092, this pair ranks #1,960,172 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spät vs späte
Shared letters: pstä. Private to "spät": -. Private to "späte": e.
"spät" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "späte" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spät" and "späte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "spät" vs "späte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "spät" and "späte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spät" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "späte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,960,172 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spät" and "späte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "späte vs Späth". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,960,172 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.