StartevsStartelfWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,555
“Starte” frequency rank
#18,075
“Startelf” frequency rank
34630
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Starte Startelf
Definition selten: Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Start Mannschaft, die zu Beginn eines Spiels auf dem Platz steht

Where the eye mixes Starte and Startelf

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Starte
8 ch
Startelf

Visual trap between Starte and Startelf

A purely visual mix-up. Starte ([ˈʃtaʁtə]) and Startelf ([ˈʃtaʁtˌʔɛlf]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Starte” sits inside “Startelf”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Starte is recorded at frequency rank #16,555, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtə]. Startelf is at rank #18,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaʁtˌʔɛlf].

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 34630, this pair ranks #1,658,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Starte vs Startelf

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "Starte": -. Private to "Startelf": fl.

"Starte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Startelf" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Startesatrte · sstarte · staret · statre · strate · sttarte · tsarte
  • Startelfsatrtelf · sstartelf · staretlf · starrtelf · startefl · startelff · startellf · startlef

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Starte" and "Startelf" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaʁtə] versus [ˈʃtaʁtˌʔɛlf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Starte" or "Startelf"?
"Starte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,555 in our German list, against #18,075 for "Startelf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Starte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Startelf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,658,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Starte" and "Startelf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stärkte vs Starte". 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 #1,658,869 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