StädtevsStarteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,748
“Städte” frequency rank
#16,555
“Starte” frequency rank
18303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Städte Starte
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt selten: Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Start

Where the eye mixes Städte and Starte

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

6 ch
Städte
6 ch
Starte

Why the eye confuses Städte with Starte

A purely visual mix-up. Städte ([ˈʃtɛːtə]) and Starte ([ˈʃtaʁtə]) 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 18303, 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]. Starte is at rank #16,555, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtə].

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 18303, this pair ranks #1,919,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Städte vs Starte

Shared letters: est. Private to "Städte": . Private to "Starte": ar.

"Städte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Starte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Startesatrte · sstarte · staret · statre · strate · sttarte · tsarte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Städte" and "Starte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛːtə] versus [ˈʃtaʁtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Städte" or "Starte"?
"Städte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,748 in our German list, against #16,555 for "Starte". 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 "Städte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Starte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,919,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Städte" and "Starte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs Starte". 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 #1,919,529 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