spätesvsspotsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#42,144
“spätes” frequency rank
#24,933
“spots” frequency rank
67077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Letter map: spätes vs spots

Shared letters muted; letters that set spätes and spots apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. spätes runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against spots's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
spätes
5 ch
spots

Grammar separator: spätes vs spots

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spätes is anadjective and spotsaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spätes is recorded at frequency rank #42,144, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːtəs]. 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 67077, this pair ranks #551,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spätes vs spots

Shared letters: pst. Private to "spätes": eä. Private to "spots": o.

"spätes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "spots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spots ← sopts · spost · spotss · spotts · sppots · sptos · sspots

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "spätes" and "spots" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spätes" is an adjective and "spots" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "spätes" vs "spots" - which ranks higher?
"spots" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,933 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

Pair "spätes" vs "spots" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spätes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #551,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spätes" and "spots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spätes vs Späth". 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 #551,987 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