StaatvsstarkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Staat is a noun, stark is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Staat” is a noun and “stark” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#895
“Staat” frequency rank
#454
“stark” frequency rank
1349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Staat stark
Definition nach Einfluss oder Aufgabe gestaffeltes System aus Individuen mit Kraft ausgestattet, von Kraft geprägt, zeugend

Where the eye mixes Staat and stark

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Staat
5 ch
stark

Visual trap between Staat and stark

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Staat is [ʃtaːt] while stark is [ʃtaʁk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Staat is recorded at frequency rank #895, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaːt]. stark is at rank #454, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃtaʁk].

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 1349, this pair ranks #2,004,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Staat vs stark

Shared letters: ast. Private to "Staat": -. Private to "stark": kr.

"Staat" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "stark" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Staatsatat · sstaat · staatt · stata · sttaat · tsaat
  • starksatrk · sstark · stakr · starkk · starrk · strak · sttark · tsark

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Staat" and "stark" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Staat" is a noun and "stark" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Staat" or "stark"?
"stark" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #454 in our German list, against #895 for "Staat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Staat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Staat" and "stark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stark vs stärkte". 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 #2,004,504 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