später

[ˈʃpɛːtɐ]

/[ˈʃpɛːtɐ]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“später” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #296. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#296
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Steigerung von „spät“

Corpus desk

Index DE-spater · später · German

später · rank #296 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #296
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH jemand

Nearest frequency peer: jemand (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „später“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „später“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

später vs state
50% similar
später vs Speer
50% similar
später vs Spatz
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for später
PropertyValue
Headwordspäter
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˈʃpɛːtɐ]
Letters6
Frequency rank#296
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „später“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).späterliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „jemand“ (#295), „stehen“ (#297), „jeden“ (#294). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „später“ bei #296. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around später (IPA [ˈʃpɛːtɐ]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #296 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for später, with forms such as "psäter", "sppäter", and "sptäer". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "state", "Speer", "Spatz", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is später, spelled S-P-Ä-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Steigerung von „spät“
  2. 2
    zukünftig aus heutiger Perspektive
  3. 3
    zukünftig aus der Perspektive der Vergangenheit

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how später appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Der Abend wurde immer später.
  2. Je später der Abend, desto interessanter die Gäste.

Synonyms

künftigzukünftignachfolgenddereinstigdereinstnachmalignachfolgendnachmals

Antonyms

früherheutigjetzigaktuellamtierendfrüherehemaligdamaligvormaligex-a. D.

This word in other languages

later(English)posteriormente(Español)postérieur(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • psäter
  • sppäter
  • sptäer
  • späetr
  • späterr
  • spätre
  • spätter
  • sspäter
  • säpter

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of später - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

psäter2sppäter1sptäer2späetr2späterr1spätre2spätter1sspäter1
Edit distance from "später"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "später"?
"später" is spelled S-P-Ä-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃpɛːtɐ].
What does "später" mean?
As an adjective, "später" means: Steigerung von „spät“
What words are commonly confused with "später"?
"später" is commonly confused with "state", "Speer", "Spatz". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "später"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "später" is [ˈʃpɛːtɐ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "später" come from?
"später" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "später", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

jemand#295stehen#297wollte#298möchte#301

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

weitere9 variantsworden9 variantsfragen9 variantsgehört9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list