spätevsSpäthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: späte is a adjective, Späth is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“späte” is an adjective and “Späth” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,757
“späte” frequency rank
#47,741
“Späth” frequency rank
59498
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature späte Späth
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spät deutscher Nachname, Familienname

Letter map: späte vs Späth

Shared letters muted; letters that set späte and Späth apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. späte (CCVCV) and Späth (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
späte
5 ch
Späth

Part-of-speech tell for späte / Späth

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: späte is anadjective and Späthaname. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “späte” becomes h in “Späth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

späte is recorded at frequency rank #11,757, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːtə]. Späth is at rank #47,741, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 59498, this pair ranks #822,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of späte vs Späth

Shared letters: pstä. Private to "späte": e. Private to "Späth": h.

"späte" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Späth" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "späte" for "Späth" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "späte" is an adjective and "Späth" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "späte" or "Späth"?
"späte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,757 in our German list, against #47,741 for "Späth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "späte" vs "Späth" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "späte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Späth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #822,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "späte" and "Späth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Späth". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #822,306 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