SakevsSäureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,710
“Sake” frequency rank
#11,980
“Säure” frequency rank
59690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sake Säure
Definition japanisches alkoholisches Getränk, das aus mit Hefe vergorenem Reis hergestellt wird und heiß getrunken wird chemische Verbindung, die im Zuge einer Säure-Base-Reaktion Protonen abgeben kann

Where the eye mixes Sake and Säure

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

4 ch
Sake
5 ch
Säure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Sake ([ˈzaːkə]) and Säure ([ˈzɔɪ̯ʁə]) 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 59690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sake is recorded at frequency rank #47,710, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːkə]. Säure is at rank #11,980, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯ʁə].

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 59690, this pair ranks #815,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sake vs Säure

Shared letters: es. Private to "Sake": ak. Private to "Säure": ruä.

"Sake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Säure" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sakeaske · saek · sakke · skae · ssake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sake" and "Säure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaːkə] versus [ˈzɔɪ̯ʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Sake" or "Säure"?
"Säure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,980 in our German list, against #47,710 for "Sake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Sake" and "Säure". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Säure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #815,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sake" and "Säure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs Sire". 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