sagtvssãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sagt is a verb, são is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#237
“sagt” frequency rank
#20,080
“são” frequency rank
20317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sagt são
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sagen gesund

Where the eye mixes sagt and são

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
sagt
3 ch
são

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sagt is [zaːkt] while são is [sɐ̃w]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sagt is recorded at frequency rank #237, classified as averb, pronounced [zaːkt]. são is at rank #20,080, tagged as anadj, pronounced [sɐ̃w].

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 20317, this pair ranks #1,899,025 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sagt vs são

Shared letters: s. Private to "sagt": agt. Private to "são": .

"sagt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "são" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sagtasgt · saggt · sagtt · satg · sgat · ssagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sagt" and "são" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sagt" is a verb and "são" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sagt" or "são"?
"sagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #237 in our German list, against #20,080 for "são". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list