SachevsSärgeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Sache” and “Särge” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#495
“Sache” frequency rank
#42,170
“Särge” frequency rank
42665
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sache Särge
Definition einzelner Gegenstand oder eine Gruppe von Dingen, die einer Person oder Angelegenheit zugehörig sind Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Sarg

Where the eye mixes Sache and Särge

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

5 ch
Sache
5 ch
Särge

Look-alike desk: Sache vs Särge

A purely visual mix-up. Sache ([ˈzaxə]) and Särge ([ˈzɛʁɡə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sache is recorded at frequency rank #495, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaxə]. Särge is at rank #42,170, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛʁɡə].

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 42665, this pair ranks #1,442,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sache vs Särge

Shared letters: es. Private to "Sache": ach. Private to "Särge": grä.

"Sache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Särge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sachesacche · saceh · sachhe · sahce · scahe · ssache

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sache" and "Särge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaxə] versus [ˈzɛʁɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Sache" or "Särge" show up more?
"Sache" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #495 in our German list, against #42,170 for "Särge". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Särge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,442,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sache" and "Särge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Särge vs Sire". 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 #1,442,357 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