stärker vs starre, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“stärker” is an adjective and “starre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,678
“stärker” frequency rank: #18,710
“starre” frequency rank: 20388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	stärker	starre
Definition	Prädikative und adverbielle Form des Komparativs des Adjektivs stark	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs starren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set stärker and starre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

stärker

6 ch

starre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stärker is [ˈʃtɛʁkɐ] while starre is [ˈʃtaʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 20388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stärker is recorded at frequency rank #1,678, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁkɐ]. starre is at rank #18,710, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁə].

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 20388, this pair ranks #1,898,230 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stärker vs starre

Shared letters: erst. Private to "stärker": kä. Private to "starre": a.

"stärker" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "starre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

starre ← satrre · sstarre · stare · starer · strare · sttarre · tsarre

Frequency comparison

stärker#1,678

starre#18,710

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stärker" and "starre" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stärker" is an adjective and "starre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "stärker" or "starre"?

"stärker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,678 in our German list, against #18,710 for "starre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering stärker vs starre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “stärker”; for a verb, it's “starre”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “stärker” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable