StartvsstoryConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,094
“Start” frequency rank
#2,519
“story” frequency rank
3613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Start story
Definition absichtsvoller Beginn einer Tätigkeit/eines Projekts Geschichte, Erzählung, Handlung, Fabel

Where the eye mixes Start and story

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Start
5 ch
story

Visual trap between Start and story

A purely visual mix-up. Start ([ʃtaʁt]) and story ([stɔːri]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Start is recorded at frequency rank #1,094, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃtaʁt]. story is at rank #2,519, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stɔːri].

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 3613, this pair ranks #1,999,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Start vs story

Shared letters: rst. Private to "Start": a. Private to "story": oy.

"Start" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "story" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Startsatrt · sstart · startt · statr · strat · sttart · tsart
  • storysotry · sstory · storry · storyy · stoyr · stroy · sttory · tsory

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Start" for "story" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtaʁt] versus [stɔːri]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Start" vs "story" - which ranks higher?
"Start" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,094 in our German list, against #2,519 for "story". 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 "Start" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "story" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,999,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Start" and "story" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "storia vs story". 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 #1,999,794 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