sagtevssiegteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#311
“sagte” frequency rank
#9,453
“siegte” frequency rank
9764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sagte siegte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sagen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs siegen

Where the eye mixes sagte and siegte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sagte
6 ch
siegte

Why the eye confuses sagte with siegte

A purely visual mix-up. sagte ([ˈzaːktə]) and siegte ([ˈziːktə]) 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 9764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sagte is recorded at frequency rank #311, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzaːktə]. siegte is at rank #9,453, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈziːktə].

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 9764, this pair ranks #1,978,406 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sagte vs siegte

Shared letters: egst. Private to "sagte": a. Private to "siegte": i.

"sagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "siegte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sagteasgte · saget · saggte · sagtte · satge · sgate · ssagte
  • siegteisegte · seigte · sieget · sieggte · siegtte · sietge · sigete · ssiegte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sagte" and "siegte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaːktə] versus [ˈziːktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sagte" vs "siegte" - which ranks higher?
"sagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #311 in our German list, against #9,453 for "siegte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sagte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "siegte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,978,406 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sagte" and "siegte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "siegte vs Stiege". 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 #1,978,406 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