spätevsstattWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,757
“späte” frequency rank
#315
“statt” frequency rank
12072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature späte statt
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spät schließt zusammen mit der Infinitivkonjunktion ›zu‹ einen abhängigen Infinitiv an und zeigt einen Gegensatz/ eine SubstitutionSubstitutiondefiniert) -> »statt zu«

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set späte and statt apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
späte
5 ch
statt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: späte is [ˈʃpɛːtə] while statt is [ʃtat]. 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 conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12072, 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]. statt is at rank #315, tagged as aconj, pronounced [ʃtat].

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 12072, this pair ranks #1,966,331 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of späte vs statt

Shared letters: st. Private to "späte": epä. Private to "statt": a.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stattsattt · sstatt · stat · sttat · sttatt · tsatt

Frequency comparison

späte#11,757
statt#315

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "späte" and "statt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "späte" is an adjective and "statt" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "späte" or "statt"?
"statt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #315 in our German list, against #11,757 for "späte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering späte vs statt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “späte”; for a conjunction, it's “statt”.
  • 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