SachsevssäheWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#30,273
“Sachse” frequency rank
#13,704
“sähe” frequency rank
43977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sachse sähe
Definition in Sachsen (Deutschland) geborener oder dort auf Dauer lebender Mensch 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sehen

Where the eye mixes Sachse and sähe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Sachse runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against sähe's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Sachse
4 ch
sähe

Visual trap between Sachse and sähe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sachse is [ˈzaksə] while sähe is [ˈzɛːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sachse is recorded at frequency rank #30,273, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaksə]. sähe is at rank #13,704, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛːə].

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 43977, this pair ranks #1,401,018 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sachse vs sähe

Shared letters: ehs. Private to "Sachse": ac. Private to "sähe": ä.

"Sachse" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "sähe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sachse ← aschse · sacchse · saches · sachhse · sachsse · sacshe · sahcse · scahse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sachse" for "sähe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sachse" is a noun and "sähe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sachse" or "sähe"?
"sähe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,704 in our German list, against #30,273 for "Sachse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sachse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sähe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,401,018 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sachse" and "sähe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs Sachse". 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 #1,401,018 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