Which to use
“sagen” is a verb and “sale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #193
- “sagen” frequency rank
- #13,472
- “sale” frequency rank
- 13665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sagen | sale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bestimmte Worte sprechen (mit direkter oder indirekter Rede verwendet) | Transaktion Ware gegen Geld: Verkauf |
Where the eye mixes sagen and sale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sagen and sale
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sagen is [ˈzaːɡn̩] while sale is [seɪl]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sagen is recorded at frequency rank #193, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzaːɡn̩]. sale is at rank #13,472, tagged as anoun, pronounced [seɪl].
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 13665, this pair ranks #1,956,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sagen vs sale
Shared letters: aes. Private to "sagen": gn. Private to "sale": l.
"sagen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "sale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sagen" and "sale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "sagen" or "sale" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sagen" and "sale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,956,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sagen" and "sale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sale 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 #1,956,543 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.