zahmvszartWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,648
“zahm” frequency rank
#13,283
“zart” frequency rank
56931
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zahm zart
Definition an den Kontakt mit Menschen gewöhnt, friedlich gegenüber Menschen, dem Menschen trauend wenig robust/widerstandsfähig

Where the eye mixes zahm and zart

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. zahm and zart follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
zahm
4 ch
zart

Visual trap between zahm and zart

A purely visual mix-up. zahm ([t͡saːm]) and zart ([t͡saːɐ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zahm is recorded at frequency rank #43,648, classified as anadj, pronounced [t͡saːm]. zart is at rank #13,283, tagged as anadj, pronounced [t͡saːɐ̯t].

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 56931, this pair ranks #921,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zahm vs zart

Shared letters: az. Private to "zahm": hm. Private to "zart": rt.

"zahm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "zart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zahm ← azhm · zahhm · zahmm · zamh · zham · zzahm
  • zart ← zarrt · zartt · zatr · zrat · zzart

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zahm" for "zart" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t͡saːm] versus [t͡saːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "zahm" vs "zart" - which ranks higher?
"zart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,283 in our German list, against #43,648 for "zahm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "zahm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zart" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #921,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zahm" and "zart" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zahm vs zapf". 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 #921,159 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