SaftvssaftigTell them apart

Quick tell: Saft is a noun, saftig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,849
“Saft” frequency rank
#28,838
“saftig” frequency rank
35687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Saft saftig
Definition Flüssigkeit in Pflanzen viel Flüssigkeit enthaltend

Where the eye mixes Saft and saftig

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

4 ch
Saft
6 ch
saftig

Visual trap between Saft and saftig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Saft is [zaft] while saftig is [ˈzaftɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Saft” sits inside “saftig”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Saft is recorded at frequency rank #6,849, classified as anoun, pronounced [zaft]. saftig is at rank #28,838, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzaftɪç].

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 35687, this pair ranks #1,633,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Saft vs saftig

Shared letters: afst. Private to "Saft": -. Private to "saftig": gi.

"Saft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "saftig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Saftasft · safft · saftt · satf · sfat · ssaft
  • saftigasftig · safftig · safitg · saftgi · saftigg · safttig · satfig · sfatig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Saft" and "saftig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Saft" is a noun and "saftig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Saft" or "saftig"?
"Saft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,849 in our German list, against #28,838 for "saftig". 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 "Saft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "saftig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,633,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Saft" and "saftig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saftig vs Satin". 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 #1,633,998 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