sanierenvssanierteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sanieren is a verb, sanierte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sanieren” is a verb and “sanierte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,756
“sanieren” frequency rank
#48,443
“sanierte” frequency rank
70199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sanieren sanierte
Definition Gebäude durch Renovierung/Modernisierung in besseren Zustand bringen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs saniert

Where the eye mixes sanieren and sanierte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. sanieren (CVCVVCVC) and sanierte (CVCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
sanieren
8 ch
sanierte

Look-alike desk: sanieren vs sanierte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sanieren is [zaˈniːʁən] while sanierte is [zaˈniːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sanieren is recorded at frequency rank #21,756, classified as averb, pronounced [zaˈniːʁən]. sanierte is at rank #48,443, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zaˈniːɐ̯tə].

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 70199, this pair ranks #453,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sanieren vs sanierte

Shared letters: aeinrs. Private to "sanieren": -. Private to "sanierte": t.

"sanieren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "sanierte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sanierenasnieren · saineren · saneiren · sanieern · sanierenn · sanierne · sanierren · sanireen
  • sanierteasnierte · sainerte · saneirte · sanieret · sanierrte · saniertte · sanietre · sanirete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sanieren" and "sanierte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sanieren" is a verb and "sanierte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sanieren" or "sanierte"?
"sanieren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,756 in our German list, against #48,443 for "sanierte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sanieren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sanierte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #453,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sanieren" and "sanierte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sanierte vs signierte". 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 #453,530 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