SachenvssachtWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#709
“Sachen” frequency rank
#42,102
“sacht” frequency rank
42811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sachen sacht
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Sache sehr schwach ausgeprägt oder auch sehr langsam und deshalb kaum zu merken

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Sachen and sacht apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Sachen
5 ch
sacht

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sachen is [ˈzaxn̩] while sacht is [zaxt]. 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 42811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sachen is recorded at frequency rank #709, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaxn̩]. sacht is at rank #42,102, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zaxt].

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 42811, this pair ranks #1,437,739 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sachen vs sacht

Shared letters: achs. Private to "Sachen": en. Private to "sacht": t.

"Sachen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sachenaschen · sacchen · sacehn · sachenn · sachhen · sachne · sahcen · scahen
  • sachtascht · saccht · sachht · sachtt · sacth · sahct · scaht · ssacht

Frequency comparison

Sachen#709
sacht#42,102

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sachen" and "sacht" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sachen" is a noun and "sacht" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sachen" or "sacht"?
"Sachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #709 in our German list, against #42,102 for "sacht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Sachen vs sacht

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Sachen”; for an adjective, it's “sacht”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Sachen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list