StädtevsStätteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,748
“Städte” frequency rank
#19,409
“Stätte” frequency rank
21157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Städte Stätte
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Stadt besonderer Ort, an dem sich etwas befindet beziehungsweise etwas passiert ist

Same sound, different letters: Städte vs Stätte

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.

6 ch
Städte
6 ch
Stätte

Homophone desk: Städte vs Stätte

This is the hard kind. Städte and Stätte are pronounced identically ([ˈʃtɛːtə]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - d in “Städte” becomes t in “Stätte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21157, 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]. Stätte is at rank #19,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛtə].

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 21157, this pair ranks #1,889,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Städte vs Stätte

Shared letters: estä. Private to "Städte": d. Private to "Stätte": -.

"Städte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Stätte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Städte" and "Stätte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same ([ˈʃtɛːtə]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary German text, does "Städte" or "Stätte" show up more?
"Städte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,748 in our German list, against #19,409 for "Stätte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "Städte" / "Stätte". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Städte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stätte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,889,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Städte" and "Stätte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs Stätte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,889,517 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