starrevsstartenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,710
“starre” frequency rank
#1,990
“starten” frequency rank
20700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature starre starten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs starren einen Vorgang beginnen

Where the eye mixes starre and starten

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

6 ch
starre
7 ch
starten

Why the eye confuses starre with starten

A purely visual mix-up. starre ([ˈʃtaʁə]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

starre is recorded at frequency rank #18,710, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁə]. 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 20700, this pair ranks #1,894,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of starre vs starten

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "starre": -. Private to "starten": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • starresatrre · sstarre · stare · starer · strare · sttarre · tsarre
  • startensatrten · sstarten · staretn · starrten · startenn · startne · startten · statren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "starre" for "starten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaʁə] versus [ˈʃtaʁtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "starre" vs "starten" - which ranks higher?
"starten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,990 in our German list, against #18,710 for "starre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "starre" 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 #1,894,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "starre" and "starten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs starre". 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 #1,894,734 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