sautervssisterConfusable pair

Quick tell: sauter is a verb, sister is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sauter” is a verb and “sister” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,458
“sauter” frequency rank
#33,816
“sister” frequency rank
77274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sauter sister
Definition springen weibliches Geschwisterkind

Where the eye mixes sauter and sister

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sauter (CVVCVC) and sister (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
sauter
6 ch
sister

Why the eye confuses sauter with sister

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sauter is [sote] while sister is [ˈsɪstə(r)]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sauter is recorded at frequency rank #43,458, classified as averb, pronounced [sote]. sister is at rank #33,816, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsɪstə(r)].

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 77274, this pair ranks #264,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sauter vs sister

Shared letters: erst. Private to "sauter": au. Private to "sister": i.

"sauter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sauter ← asuter · satuer · sauetr · sauterr · sautre · sautter · ssauter · suater
  • sister ← isster · sisetr · sisster · sisterr · sistre · sistter · sitser · ssister

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sauter" for "sister" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sauter" is a verb and "sister" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "sauter" or "sister" show up more?
"sister" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,816 in our German list, against #43,458 for "sauter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sauter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sister" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #264,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sauter" and "sister" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sauter vs Stuten". 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 #264,529 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