säenvsstehnWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,300
“säen” frequency rank
#24,938
“stehn” frequency rank
57238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature säen stehn
Definition ausstreuend oder setzend Saatgut in den dafür vorbereiteten Boden bringen stehen

Where the eye mixes säen and stehn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
säen
5 ch
stehn

Why the eye confuses säen with stehn

A purely visual mix-up. säen ([ˈzɛːən]) and stehn ([ʃteːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

säen is recorded at frequency rank #32,300, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛːən]. stehn is at rank #24,938, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃteːn].

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 57238, this pair ranks #909,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of säen vs stehn

Shared letters: ens. Private to "säen": ä. Private to "stehn": ht.

"säen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "stehn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehnsethn · sstehn · stehhn · stehnn · stenh · sthen · sttehn · tsehn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "säen" and "stehn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛːən] versus [ʃteːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "säen" or "stehn" show up more?
"stehn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,938 in our German list, against #32,300 for "säen". 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 "säen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stehn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #909,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "säen" and "stehn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "säen vs seg". 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 #909,118 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