sagtevssorgteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#311
“sagte” frequency rank
#5,882
“sorgte” frequency rank
6193
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sagte sorgte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sagen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sorgen

Where the eye mixes sagte and sorgte

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

5 ch
sagte
6 ch
sorgte

Why the eye confuses sagte with sorgte

A purely visual mix-up. sagte ([ˈzaːktə]) and sorgte ([ˈzɔʁktə]) 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 6193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sagte is recorded at frequency rank #311, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzaːktə]. sorgte is at rank #5,882, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɔʁktə].

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 6193, this pair ranks #1,992,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sagte vs sorgte

Shared letters: egst. Private to "sagte": a. Private to "sorgte": or.

"sagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sorgte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sagteasgte · saget · saggte · sagtte · satge · sgate · ssagte
  • sorgteosrgte · sogrte · sorget · sorggte · sorgtte · sorrgte · sortge · srogte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sagte" and "sorgte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaːktə] versus [ˈzɔʁktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sagte" or "sorgte"?
"sagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #311 in our German list, against #5,882 for "sorgte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "sorgte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sagte" and "sorgte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Särge vs sorgte". 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 #1,992,416 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