StädtevsstartsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Städte is a noun, starts is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Städte” is a noun and “starts” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,748
“Städte” frequency rank
#22,904
“starts” frequency rank
24652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Städte starts
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs start

Letter map: Städte vs starts

Shared letters muted; letters that set Städte and starts apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

6 ch
Städte
6 ch
starts

Role in the sentence - Städte and starts

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Städte is anoun and startsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24652, 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]. starts is at rank #22,904, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 24652, this pair ranks #1,844,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Städte vs starts

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

"Städte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "starts" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • startssatrts · sstarts · starrts · starst · startss · startts · statrs · strats

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Städte" for "starts" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Städte" is a noun and "starts" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Städte" vs "starts" - which ranks higher?
"Städte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,748 in our German list, against #22,904 for "starts". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Städte" and "starts".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Städte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "starts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,844,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Städte" and "starts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs starts". 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 #1,844,600 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