späterevsspätesConfusable pair

Which to use

“spätere” and “spätes” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,314
“spätere” frequency rank
#42,144
“spätes” frequency rank
47458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spätere spätes
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs spät Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spät

Where the eye mixes spätere and spätes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
spätere
6 ch
spätes

Visual trap between spätere and spätes

A purely visual mix-up. spätere ([ˈʃpɛːtəʁə]) and spätes ([ˈʃpɛːtəs]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spätere is recorded at frequency rank #5,314, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːtəʁə]. spätes is at rank #42,144, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːtəs].

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 47458, this pair ranks #1,283,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spätere vs spätes

Shared letters: epstä. Private to "spätere": r. Private to "spätes": -.

"spätere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "spätes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spätere" for "spätes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpɛːtəʁə] versus [ˈʃpɛːtəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "spätere" vs "spätes" - which ranks higher?
"spätere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,314 in our German list, against #42,144 for "spätes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "spätere" and "spätes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spätere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spätes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,283,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spätere" and "spätes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spätes vs Späth". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,283,513 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