gesagtvsgesäumtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gesagt is a verb, gesäumt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gesagt” is a verb and “gesäumt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#329
“gesagt” frequency rank
#40,567
“gesäumt” frequency rank
40896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gesagt gesäumt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sagen mit einem Saum versehen

Where the eye mixes gesagt and gesäumt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gesagt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against gesäumt's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gesagt
7 ch
gesäumt

Why the eye confuses gesagt with gesäumt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gesagt is [ɡəˈzaːkt] while gesäumt is [ɡəˈzɔɪ̯mt]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gesagt is recorded at frequency rank #329, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈzaːkt]. gesäumt is at rank #40,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈzɔɪ̯mt].

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 40896, this pair ranks #1,495,229 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gesagt vs gesäumt

Shared letters: egst. Private to "gesagt": a. Private to "gesäumt": muä.

"gesagt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gesäumt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesagt ← egsagt · geasgt · gesaggt · gesagtt · gesatg · gesgat · gessagt · ggesagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gesagt" for "gesäumt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gesagt" is a verb and "gesäumt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gesagt" vs "gesäumt" - which ranks higher?
"gesagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #329 in our German list, against #40,567 for "gesäumt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gesagt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gesäumt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,495,229 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gesagt" and "gesäumt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gesaugt vs gesäumt". 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 #1,495,229 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