StädtevsStartTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,748
“Städte” frequency rank
#1,094
“Start” frequency rank
2842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Städte Start
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt absichtsvoller Beginn einer Tätigkeit/eines Projekts

Where the eye mixes Städte and Start

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

6 ch
Städte
5 ch
Start

Look-alike desk: Städte vs Start

A purely visual mix-up. Städte ([ˈʃtɛːtə]) and Start ([ʃtaʁt]) 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 2842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Städte is recorded at frequency rank #1,748, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛːtə]. Start is at rank #1,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʁt].

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 2842, this pair ranks #2,001,464 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Städte vs Start

Shared letters: st. Private to "Städte": deä. Private to "Start": ar.

"Städte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Start" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Startsatrt · sstart · startt · statr · strat · sttart · tsart

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Städte" and "Start" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛːtə] versus [ʃtaʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Städte" or "Start"?
"Start" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,094 in our German list, against #1,748 for "Städte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Städte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Start" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,001,464 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Städte" and "Start" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Städte 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 #2,001,464 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