Which to use
“acht” is a num and “act” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #899
- “acht” frequency rank
- #9,500
- “act” frequency rank
- 10399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acht | act |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Kardinalzahl zwischen sieben und neun | Tat, Werk |
Where the eye mixes acht and act
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between acht and act
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acht is [axt] while act is [ækt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acht is recorded at frequency rank #899, classified as anum, pronounced [axt]. act is at rank #9,500, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ækt].
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 10399, this pair ranks #1,975,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of acht vs act
Shared letters: act. Private to "acht": h. Private to "act": -.
"acht" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "act" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- acht ← accht · achht · achtt · acth · ahct · caht
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "acht" and "act" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "acht" or "act"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "acht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "act" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,975,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acht" and "act" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "act vs AUD". 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 #1,975,337 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.