sachtvssechsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#42,102
“sacht” frequency rank
#650
“sechs” frequency rank
42752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacht sechs
Definition sehr schwach ausgeprägt oder auch sehr langsam und deshalb kaum zu merken sechs, die Zahl zwischen fünf und sieben

Where the eye mixes sacht and sechs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sacht and sechs 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
sechs

Why the eye confuses sacht with sechs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sacht is [zaxt] while sechs is [zɛks]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42752, 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]. sechs is at rank #650, tagged as anum, pronounced [zɛks].

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 42752, this pair ranks #1,439,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacht vs sechs

Shared letters: chs. Private to "sacht": at. Private to "sechs": e.

"sacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "sechs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacht ← ascht · saccht · sachht · sachtt · sacth · sahct · scaht · ssacht
  • sechs ← eschs · scehs · secchs · sechhs · sechss · secsh · sehcs · ssechs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacht" and "sechs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sacht" is an adjective and "sechs" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sacht" vs "sechs" - which ranks higher?
"sechs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #650 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "sacht" and "sechs" 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 "sechs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,439,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacht" and "sechs" 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 #1,439,589 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