sagtvssaugtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#237
“sagt” frequency rank
#19,706
“saugt” frequency rank
19943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sagt saugt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sagen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs saugen

Where the eye mixes sagt and saugt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sagt runs 4 letters (CVCC) against saugt's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
sagt
5 ch
saugt

Visual trap between sagt and saugt

A purely visual mix-up. sagt ([zaːkt]) and saugt ([zaʊ̯kt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sagt is recorded at frequency rank #237, classified as averb, pronounced [zaːkt]. saugt is at rank #19,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [zaʊ̯kt].

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 19943, this pair ranks #1,902,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sagt vs saugt

Shared letters: agst. Private to "sagt": -. Private to "saugt": u.

"sagt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "saugt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sagtasgt · saggt · sagtt · satg · sgat · ssagt
  • saugtasugt · sagut · sauggt · saugtt · sautg · ssaugt · suagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sagt" for "saugt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([zaːkt] versus [zaʊ̯kt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sagt" or "saugt"?
"sagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #237 in our German list, against #19,706 for "saugt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sagt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "saugt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,902,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sagt" and "saugt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saugt vs shut". 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 #1,902,969 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