Which to use
“stark” is an adjective and “stärkte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #454
- “stark” frequency rank
- #48,523
- “stärkte” frequency rank
- 48977
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stark | stärkte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit Kraft ausgestattet, von Kraft geprägt, zeugend | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stärken |
Where the eye mixes stark and stärkte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stark and stärkte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stark is [ʃtaʁk] while stärkte is [ˈʃtɛʁktə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stark is recorded at frequency rank #454, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtaʁk]. stärkte is at rank #48,523, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁktə].
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 48977, this pair ranks #1,228,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stark vs stärkte
Shared letters: krst. Private to "stark": a. Private to "stärkte": eä.
"stark" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stärkte" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- stark ← satrk · sstark · stakr · starkk · starrk · strak · sttark · tsark
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stark" for "stärkte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "stark" or "stärkte" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stark" and "stärkte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stärkte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,228,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stark" and "stärkte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkster 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 #1,228,542 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.