StartevsstatesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,555
“Starte” frequency rank
#14,678
“states” frequency rank
31233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Starte states
Definition selten: Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Start Plural des Substantivs state

Where the eye mixes Starte and states

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

6 ch
Starte
6 ch
states

Why the eye confuses Starte with states

A purely visual mix-up. Starte ([ˈʃtaʁtə]) and states ([steits]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31233, 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]. states is at rank #14,678, tagged as anoun, pronounced [steits].

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 31233, this pair ranks #1,732,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Starte vs states

Shared letters: aest. Private to "Starte": r. Private to "states": -.

"Starte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Startesatrte · sstarte · staret · statre · strate · sttarte · tsarte
  • statessattes · sstates · staets · statess · statse · stattes · sttaes · sttates

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Starte" and "states" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtaʁtə] versus [steits]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Starte" or "states"?
"states" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,678 in our German list, against #16,555 for "Starte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Starte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "states" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,732,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Starte" and "states" 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 #1,732,196 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