StreckevsstrengeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Strecke is a noun, strenge is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Strecke” is a noun and “strenge” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,746
“Strecke” frequency rank
#9,101
“strenge” frequency rank
10847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Strecke strenge
Definition Stück eines Weges Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs streng

Where the eye mixes Strecke and strenge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Strecke and strenge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Strecke
7 ch
strenge

Visual trap between Strecke and strenge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Strecke is [ˈʃtʁɛkə] while strenge is [ˈʃtʁɛŋə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Strecke is recorded at frequency rank #1,746, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɛkə]. strenge is at rank #9,101, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɛŋə].

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 10847, this pair ranks #1,973,020 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Strecke vs strenge

Shared letters: erst. Private to "Strecke": ck. Private to "strenge": gn.

"Strecke" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "strenge" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Streckesrtecke · sstrecke · stercke · strceke · streccke · strecek · streckke · strekce
  • strengesrtenge · sstrenge · sternge · stregne · streneg · strengge · strennge · strnege

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Strecke" and "strenge" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Strecke" is a noun and "strenge" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Strecke" vs "strenge" - which ranks higher?
"Strecke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,746 in our German list, against #9,101 for "strenge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Strecke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strenge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,020 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Strecke" and "strenge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "strenge vs Strings". 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 #1,973,020 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