saithvssichWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#31,331
“saith” frequency rank
#42,895
“sich” frequency rank
74226
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saith sich
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of say An administrative and military centre for the Zaporozhian and Danube Cossacks.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set saith and sich apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
saith
4 ch
sich

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: saith is /sɛθ/ while sich is /siːt͡ʃ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saith is recorded at frequency rank #31,331, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛθ/. sich is at rank #42,895, tagged as anoun, pronounced /siːt͡ʃ/.

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 74226, this pair ranks #37,012 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of saith vs sich

Shared letters: his. Private to "saith": at. Private to "sich": c.

"saith" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "sich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saithasith · saiht · saithh · saitth · satih · siath · ssaith
  • sichisch · scih · sicch · sichh · sihc · ssich

Frequency comparison

saith#31,331
sich#42,895

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saith" and "sich" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saith" is a verb and "sich" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "saith" or "sich"?
"saith" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,331 in our English list, against #42,895 for "sich". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering saith vs sich

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “saith”; for a noun, it's “sich”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “saith” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list