achtvsAmtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: acht is a num, Amt is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“acht” is a num and “Amt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#899
“acht” frequency rank
#1,279
“Amt” frequency rank
2178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acht Amt
Definition die Kardinalzahl zwischen sieben und neun eine mit Würde und Verantwortung verbundene offizielle (staatliche) Stellung

Where the eye mixes acht and Amt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
acht
3 ch
Amt

Visual trap between acht and Amt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acht is [axt] while Amt is [amt]. 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 2178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acht is recorded at frequency rank #899, classified as anum, pronounced [axt]. Amt is at rank #1,279, tagged as anoun, pronounced [amt].

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 2178, this pair ranks #2,002,929 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of acht vs Amt

Shared letters: at. Private to "acht": ch. Private to "Amt": m.

"acht" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "Amt" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • achtaccht · achht · achtt · acth · ahct · caht

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "acht" and "Amt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acht" is a num and "Amt" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "acht" vs "Amt" - which ranks higher?
"acht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #899 in our German list, against #1,279 for "Amt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "acht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Amt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,929 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acht" and "Amt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Amt 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 #2,002,929 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