sachtevssandteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#41,435
“sachte” frequency rank
#21,755
“sandte” frequency rank
63190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sachte sandte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sacht 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs senden

Where the eye mixes sachte and sandte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sachte
6 ch
sandte

Visual trap between sachte and sandte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sachte is [ˈzaxtə] while sandte is [ˈzantə]. 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 63190, 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]. sandte is at rank #21,755, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzantə].

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 63190, this pair ranks #685,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sachte vs sandte

Shared letters: aest. Private to "sachte": ch. Private to "sandte": dn.

"sachte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "sandte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sachteaschte · sacchte · sachet · sachhte · sachtte · sacthe · sahcte · scahte
  • sandteasndte · sadnte · sanddte · sandet · sandtte · sanndte · santde · snadte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sachte" for "sandte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sachte" is an adjective and "sandte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "sachte" or "sandte" show up more?
"sandte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,755 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sachte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sandte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #685,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sachte" and "sandte" 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 #685,569 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