spätevsspotsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,757
“späte” frequency rank
#24,933
“spots” frequency rank
36690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature späte spots
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spät 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spot

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set späte and spots apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
späte
5 ch
spots

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: späte is anadjective and spotsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36690, 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]. spots is at rank #24,933, tagged as averb, 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 36690, this pair ranks #1,609,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of späte vs spots

Shared letters: pst. Private to "späte": . Private to "spots": o.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spotssopts · spost · spotss · spotts · sppots · sptos · sspots

Frequency comparison

späte#11,757
spots#24,933

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "späte" and "spots" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "späte" is an adjective and "spots" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "späte" or "spots"?
"späte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,757 in our German list, against #24,933 for "spots". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering späte vs spots

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “späte”; for a verb, it's “spots”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “späte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list