sachtvssaugtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sacht is a adjective, saugt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#42,102
“sacht” frequency rank
#19,706
“saugt” frequency rank
61808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacht saugt
Definition sehr schwach ausgeprägt oder auch sehr langsam und deshalb kaum zu merken 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs saugen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sacht and saugt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
sacht
5 ch
saugt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sacht is [zaxt] while saugt is [zaʊ̯kt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61808, 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]. saugt is at rank #19,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [zaʊ̯kt].

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 61808, this pair ranks #735,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacht vs saugt

Shared letters: ast. Private to "sacht": ch. Private to "saugt": gu.

"sacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "saugt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sachtascht · saccht · sachht · sachtt · sacth · sahct · scaht · ssacht
  • saugtasugt · sagut · sauggt · saugtt · sautg · ssaugt · suagt

Frequency comparison

sacht#42,102
saugt#19,706

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacht" and "saugt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sacht" is an adjective and "saugt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sacht" or "saugt"?
"saugt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,706 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.

Remembering sacht vs saugt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “sacht”; for a verb, it's “saugt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sacht” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list