sagtevsskateWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#311
“sagte” frequency rank
#45,585
“skate” frequency rank
45896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sagte skate
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sagen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs skaten

Where the eye mixes sagte and skate

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

5 ch
sagte
5 ch
skate

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sagte ([ˈzaːktə]) and skate ([ˈskɛɪ̯tə]) 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 45896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sagte is recorded at frequency rank #311, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzaːktə]. skate is at rank #45,585, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈskɛɪ̯tə].

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 45896, this pair ranks #1,337,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sagte vs skate

Shared letters: aest. Private to "sagte": g. Private to "skate": k.

"sagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "skate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sagteasgte · saget · saggte · sagtte · satge · sgate · ssagte
  • skatesakte · skaet · skatte · skkate · sktae · sskate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sagte" and "skate" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaːktə] versus [ˈskɛɪ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sagte" or "skate"?
"sagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #311 in our German list, against #45,585 for "skate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "sagte" and "skate". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sagte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "skate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,337,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sagte" and "skate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skate vs Späth". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list