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Is it just your own choice of words or do they also mean two different things?

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    No difference between the two. – πάντα ῥεῖ Jan 28 '18 at 19:53
  • Basically no difference, though I would second the sentiment expressed by "Glockenblume" here: forum.wordreference.com/threads/anstatt-statt.2768344 – user1583209 Jan 28 '18 at 21:41
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    Was sagt das Wörterbuch? – user unknown Jan 29 '18 at 3:08
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    @userunknown Wörterbücher sagen haufig nicht zu viel... – peterh Jan 29 '18 at 4:34
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    Can you add an example? Why do you think the two word mean the same or do not? – IQV Jan 29 '18 at 6:53
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If we look at the etymology of statt we can see that it is a shortened form for anstatt:

statt Präp. Konj. (17. Jh.), aus anstatt gekürzt. Dazu statt daß, statt zu (18. Jh.).Etymologisches Wörterbuch (nach Pfeifer)

Both have the same meaning and usage until today. When using the unshortened form we may intend a higher register of German but in this case this is of not much siginficance.

Please note that both, statt, and anstatt go with genitive case which increasingly gets lost in colloquial speech.

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    ... using the unshortened form we may intend a higher register...: looking at the examples I wouldn't say so, to me it sounds more the other way round. It may be also worth noting that the frequent collocation statt dessen only works with statt. – Stef Feb 2 at 15:58

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