SaftvsSakeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Saft” and “Sake” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,849
“Saft” frequency rank
#47,710
“Sake” frequency rank
54559
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Saft Sake
Definition Flüssigkeit in Pflanzen japanisches alkoholisches Getränk, das aus mit Hefe vergorenem Reis hergestellt wird und heiß getrunken wird

Where the eye mixes Saft and Sake

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Saft
4 ch
Sake

Visual trap between Saft and Sake

A purely visual mix-up. Saft ([zaft]) and Sake ([ˈzaːkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54559, 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]. Sake is at rank #47,710, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːkə].

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 54559, this pair ranks #1,014,126 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Saft vs Sake

Shared letters: as. Private to "Saft": ft. Private to "Sake": ek.

"Saft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Sake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Saftasft · safft · saftt · satf · sfat · ssaft
  • Sakeaske · saek · sakke · skae · ssake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Saft" and "Sake" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([zaft] versus [ˈzaːkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Saft" or "Sake" show up more?
"Saft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,849 in our German list, against #47,710 for "Sake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Saft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,014,126 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Saft" and "Sake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs Sire". 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 #1,014,126 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