StaatevsStrafeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,640
“Staate” frequency rank
#2,557
“Strafe” frequency rank
39197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Staate Strafe
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Staat Sanktion, wegen Fehlverhalten erhaltene Reaktion

Where the eye mixes Staate and Strafe

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

6 ch
Staate
6 ch
Strafe

Look-alike desk: Staate vs Strafe

A purely visual mix-up. Staate ([ˈʃtaːtə]) and Strafe ([ˈʃtʁaːfə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39197, 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]. Strafe is at rank #2,557, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁaːfə].

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 39197, this pair ranks #1,543,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Staate vs Strafe

Shared letters: aest. Private to "Staate": -. Private to "Strafe": fr.

"Staate" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Strafe" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Staatesatate · sstaate · staaet · staatte · statae · sttaate · tsaate
  • Strafesrtafe · sstrafe · starfe · straef · straffe · strfae · strrafe · sttrafe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Staate" and "Strafe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaːtə] versus [ˈʃtʁaːfə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Staate" or "Strafe"?
"Strafe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,557 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 "Strafe" 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 "Strafe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,543,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Staate" and "Strafe" 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 #1,543,367 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