sachtvsSanktTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,102
“sacht” frequency rank
#7,524
“Sankt” frequency rank
49626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacht Sankt
Definition sehr schwach ausgeprägt oder auch sehr langsam und deshalb kaum zu merken heilig

Where the eye mixes sacht and Sankt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sacht and Sankt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
sacht
5 ch
Sankt

Visual trap between sacht and Sankt

A purely visual mix-up. sacht ([zaxt]) and Sankt ([zaŋkt]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49626, 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]. Sankt is at rank #7,524, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zaŋkt].

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 49626, this pair ranks #1,204,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacht vs Sankt

Shared letters: ast. Private to "sacht": ch. Private to "Sankt": kn.

"sacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Sankt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacht ← ascht · saccht · sachht · sachtt · sacth · sahct · scaht · ssacht
  • Sankt ← asnkt · saknt · sankkt · sanktt · sannkt · santk · snakt · ssankt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sacht" and "Sankt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([zaxt] versus [zaŋkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sacht" or "Sankt"?
"Sankt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,524 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sacht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sankt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,204,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacht" and "Sankt" 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 #1,204,347 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