stärktevsstartenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,523
“stärkte” frequency rank
#1,990
“starten” frequency rank
50513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stärkte starten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs stärken einen Vorgang beginnen

Where the eye mixes stärkte and starten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
stärkte
7 ch
starten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. stärkte ([ˈʃtɛʁktə]) and starten ([ˈʃtaʁtn̩]) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stärkte is recorded at frequency rank #48,523, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛʁktə]. starten is at rank #1,990, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtn̩].

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 50513, this pair ranks #1,170,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stärkte vs starten

Shared letters: erst. Private to "stärkte": . Private to "starten": an.

"stärkte" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV  ·  "starten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • startensatrten · sstarten · staretn · starrten · startenn · startne · startten · statren

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stärkte" and "starten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛʁktə] versus [ˈʃtaʁtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stärkte" or "starten"?
"starten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,990 in our German list, against #48,523 for "stärkte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "stärkte" and "starten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stärkte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "starten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,170,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stärkte" and "starten" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list