samtvssäuftWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,155
“samt” frequency rank
#44,266
“säuft” frequency rank
48421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature samt säuft
Definition mit Dativ: zusammen mit 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs saufen

Where the eye mixes samt and säuft

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

4 ch
samt
5 ch
säuft

Visual trap between samt and säuft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: samt is [zamt] while säuft is [ˈzɔɪ̯ft]. 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 (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

samt is recorded at frequency rank #4,155, classified as aprep, pronounced [zamt]. säuft is at rank #44,266, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯ft].

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 48421, this pair ranks #1,249,194 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of samt vs säuft

Shared letters: st. Private to "samt": am. Private to "säuft": fuä.

"samt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "säuft" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "samt" and "säuft" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "samt" is a preposition and "säuft" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "samt" vs "säuft" - which ranks higher?
"samt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,155 in our German list, against #44,266 for "säuft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "samt" and "säuft" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "samt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "säuft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,249,194 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "samt" and "säuft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "säuft vs surft". 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 #1,249,194 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