starrtevsStartTell them apart

Quick tell: starrte is a verb, Start is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“starrte” is a verb and “Start” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,067
“starrte” frequency rank
#1,094
“Start” frequency rank
28161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature starrte Start
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs starren absichtsvoller Beginn einer Tätigkeit/eines Projekts

Where the eye mixes starrte and Start

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

7 ch
starrte
5 ch
Start

Look-alike desk: starrte vs Start

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: starrte is [ˈʃtaʁtə] while Start is [ʃtaʁt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

starrte is recorded at frequency rank #27,067, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtə]. Start is at rank #1,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʁt].

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 28161, this pair ranks #1,789,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of starrte vs Start

Shared letters: arst. Private to "starrte": e. Private to "Start": -.

"starrte" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV  ·  "Start" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • starrtesatrrte · sstarrte · starret · starrtte · strarte · sttarrte · tsarrte
  • Startsatrt · sstart · startt · statr · strat · sttart · tsart

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "starrte" and "Start" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "starrte" is a verb and "Start" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "starrte" or "Start" show up more?
"Start" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,094 in our German list, against #27,067 for "starrte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "starrte" and "Start" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "starrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Start" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,789,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "starrte" and "Start" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs starrte". 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 #1,789,504 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