Which to use
“spät” is an adjective and “Stau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,335
- “spät” frequency rank
- #7,819
- “Stau” frequency rank
- 9154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spät | Stau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zeitlich fortgeschritten, kurz vor Schluss, gegen Ende | durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti: Ergebnis des Stauens |
Where the eye mixes spät and Stau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between spät and Stau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spät is [ʃpɛːt] while Stau is [ʃtaʊ̯]. 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 9154, 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]. Stau is at rank #7,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʊ̯].
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 9154, this pair ranks #1,981,250 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spät vs Stau
Shared letters: st. Private to "spät": pä. Private to "Stau": au.
"spät" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Stau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Stau ← satu · sstau · sttau · stua · tsau
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spät" and "Stau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "spät" or "Stau" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spät" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Stau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,981,250 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spät" and "Stau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sai vs Stau". 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 #1,981,250 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.