SagervsSpeerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,792
“Sager” frequency rank
#15,217
“Speer” frequency rank
49009
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sager Speer
Definition der etwas sagt Waffe zum Werfen und Stechen, bestehend aus einer Stange mit einer Spitze (meist aus Metall oder Stein) an einem Ende; leichter als die nur zum Stechen bestimmte Lanze

Where the eye mixes Sager and Speer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Sager
5 ch
Speer

Visual trap between Sager and Speer

A purely visual mix-up. Sager ([ˈzaːɡɐ]) and Speer ([ʃpeːɐ̯]) 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 49009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sager is recorded at frequency rank #33,792, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːɡɐ]. Speer is at rank #15,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpeːɐ̯].

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 49009, this pair ranks #1,227,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sager vs Speer

Shared letters: ers. Private to "Sager": ag. Private to "Speer": p.

"Sager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Speer" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sagerasger · saegr · sagerr · sagger · sagre · sgaer · ssager
  • Speerpseer · seper · speerr · sper · sppeer · sspeer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sager" for "Speer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaːɡɐ] versus [ʃpeːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Sager" or "Speer"?
"Speer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,217 in our German list, against #33,792 for "Sager". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sager" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Speer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,227,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sager" and "Speer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sager vs Sake". 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 #1,227,434 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