sachtevsSäfteTell them apart

Quick tell: sachte is a adjective, Säfte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sachte” is an adjective and “Säfte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,435
“sachte” frequency rank
#33,848
“Säfte” frequency rank
75283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sachte Säfte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sacht Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Saft

Where the eye mixes sachte and Säfte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sachte runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against Säfte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sachte
5 ch
Säfte

Look-alike desk: sachte vs Säfte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sachte is [ˈzaxtə] while Säfte is [ˈzɛftə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sachte is recorded at frequency rank #41,435, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzaxtə]. Säfte is at rank #33,848, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛftə].

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 75283, this pair ranks #311,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sachte vs Säfte

Shared letters: est. Private to "sachte": ach. Private to "Säfte": fä.

"sachte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Säfte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sachte ← aschte · sacchte · sachet · sachhte · sachtte · sacthe · sahcte · scahte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sachte" and "Säfte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sachte" is an adjective and "Säfte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sachte" or "Säfte"?
"Säfte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,848 in our German list, against #41,435 for "sachte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sachte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Säfte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #311,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sachte" and "Säfte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs sachte". 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 #311,882 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