JagdvsjähWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Jagd is a noun, jäh is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Jagd” is a noun and “jäh” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,896
“Jagd” frequency rank
#39,457
“jäh” frequency rank
43353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Jagd jäh
Definition das Aufsuchen, Nachstellen, Fangen, Erlegen und Aneignen von Wild durch Jäger unerwartet, abrupt und heftig sich entwickelnd

Where the eye mixes Jagd and jäh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Jagd runs 4 letters (CVCC) against jäh's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Jagd
3 ch
jäh

Look-alike desk: Jagd vs jäh

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Jagd is [jaːkt] while jäh is [jɛː]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Jagd is recorded at frequency rank #3,896, classified as anoun, pronounced [jaːkt]. jäh is at rank #39,457, tagged as anadj, pronounced [jɛː].

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 43353, this pair ranks #1,420,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Jagd vs jäh

Shared letters: j. Private to "Jagd": adg. Private to "jäh": hä.

"Jagd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "jäh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Jagd ← ajgd · jadg · jagdd · jaggd · jgad · jjagd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Jagd" and "jäh" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Jagd" is a noun and "jäh" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Jagd" or "jäh"?
"Jagd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,896 in our German list, against #39,457 for "jäh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Jagd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jäh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,420,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Jagd" and "jäh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jäh vs jn". 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 #1,420,753 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