saivssamtTell them apart

Quick tell: sai is a verb, samt is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sai” is a verb and “samt” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,708
“sai” frequency rank
#4,155
“samt” frequency rank
51863
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sai samt
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sapere mit Dativ: zusammen mit

Where the eye mixes sai and samt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
sai
4 ch
samt

Look-alike desk: sai vs samt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sai is [ˈsai̯] while samt is [zamt]. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51863, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sai is recorded at frequency rank #47,708, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsai̯]. samt is at rank #4,155, tagged as aprep, pronounced [zamt].

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 51863, this pair ranks #1,119,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sai vs samt

Shared letters: as. Private to "sai": i. Private to "samt": mt.

"sai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "samt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • samtasmt · sammt · samtt · satm · smat · ssamt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sai" and "samt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sai" is a verb and "samt" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sai" vs "samt" - which ranks higher?
"samt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,155 in our German list, against #47,708 for "sai". 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 "sai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "samt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,119,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sai" and "samt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sai vs seg". 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 #1,119,106 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