JägervsjagteTell them apart

Quick tell: Jäger is a noun, jagte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Jäger” is a noun and “jagte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,383
“Jäger” frequency rank
#25,184
“jagte” frequency rank
28567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Jäger jagte
Definition Person, die jemanden oder etwas verfolgt 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs jagen

Where the eye mixes Jäger and jagte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Jäger (CVCVC) and jagte (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Jäger
5 ch
jagte

Why the eye confuses Jäger with jagte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Jäger is [ˈjɛːɡɐ] while jagte is [ˈjaːktə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Jäger is recorded at frequency rank #3,383, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈjɛːɡɐ]. jagte is at rank #25,184, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈjaːktə].

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 28567, this pair ranks #1,782,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Jäger vs jagte

Shared letters: egj. Private to "Jäger": rä. Private to "jagte": at.

"Jäger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "jagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jagte ← ajgte · jaget · jaggte · jagtte · jatge · jgate · jjagte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Jäger" for "jagte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Jäger" is a noun and "jagte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Jäger" or "jagte"?
"Jäger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,383 in our German list, against #25,184 for "jagte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Jäger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jagte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,782,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Jäger" and "jagte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jagte vs Jute". 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 #1,782,494 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