StaatevsStädtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,640
“Staate” frequency rank
#2,088
“Städten” frequency rank
38728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Staate Städten
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Staat Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt

Where the eye mixes Staate and Städten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Staate
7 ch
Städten

Look-alike desk: Staate vs Städten

A purely visual mix-up. Staate ([ˈʃtaːtə]) and Städten ([ˈʃtɛːtn̩]) 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 38728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Staate is recorded at frequency rank #36,640, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaːtə]. Städten is at rank #2,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːtn̩].

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 38728, this pair ranks #1,556,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Staate vs Städten

Shared letters: est. Private to "Staate": a. Private to "Städten": dnä.

"Staate" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Städten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Staatesatate · sstaate · staaet · staatte · statae · sttaate · tsaate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Staate" and "Städten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaːtə] versus [ˈʃtɛːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Staate" vs "Städten" - which ranks higher?
"Städten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,088 in our German list, against #36,640 for "Staate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Staate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Städten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,556,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Staate" and "Städten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Staate 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 #1,556,197 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