sachtvssachteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,102
“sacht” frequency rank
#41,435
“sachte” frequency rank
83537
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacht sachte
Definition sehr schwach ausgeprägt oder auch sehr langsam und deshalb kaum zu merken Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sacht

Where the eye mixes sacht and sachte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sacht runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against sachte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
sacht
6 ch
sachte

Visual trap between sacht and sachte

A purely visual mix-up. sacht ([zaxt]) and sachte ([ˈzaxtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “sacht” sits inside “sachte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83537, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sacht is recorded at frequency rank #42,102, classified as anadj, pronounced [zaxt]. sachte is at rank #41,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzaxtə].

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 83537, this pair ranks #138,294 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sacht vs sachte

Shared letters: achst. Private to "sacht": -. Private to "sachte": e.

"sacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "sachte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacht ← ascht · saccht · sachht · sachtt · sacth · sahct · scaht · ssacht
  • sachte ← aschte · sacchte · sachet · sachhte · sachtte · sacthe · sahcte · scahte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacht" and "sachte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([zaxt] versus [ˈzaxtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sacht" vs "sachte" - which ranks higher?
"sachte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,435 in our German list, against #42,102 for "sacht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "sacht" and "sachte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sacht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sachte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,294 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacht" and "sachte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs sacht". 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 #138,294 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