strassvsstrateWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“strass” and “strate” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,570
“strass” frequency rank
#41,019
“strate” frequency rank
78589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature strass strate
Definition Verroterie à base de plomb, incolore ou coloré à l’aide d’oxydes métalliques, imitant les pierres précieuses. Couche, niveau parmi plusieurs.

Where the eye mixes strass and strate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
strass
6 ch
strate

Visual trap between strass and strate

A purely visual mix-up. strass (\stʁas\) and strate (\stʁat\) 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 78589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

strass is recorded at frequency rank #37,570, classified as anoun, pronounced \stʁas\. strate is at rank #41,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stʁat\.

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 78589, this pair ranks #25,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of strass vs strate

Shared letters: arst. Private to "strass": -. Private to "strate": e.

"strass" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "strate" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • strasssrtass · sstrass · strrass · strsas · sttrass · tsrass
  • stratesrtate · sstrate · starte · straet · stratte · strrate · strtae · sttrate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "strass" and "strate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\stʁas\ versus \stʁat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "strass" or "strate"?
"strass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,570 in our French list, against #41,019 for "strate". 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 "strass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "strass" and "strate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stase vs strate". 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 #25,353 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list