sähevssalleTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#13,704
“sähe” frequency rank
#44,885
“salle” frequency rank
58589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sähe salle
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sehen Zimmer, Raum

Where the eye mixes sähe and salle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sähe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against salle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
sähe
5 ch
salle

Why the eye confuses sähe with salle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sähe is [ˈzɛːə] while salle is [sal]. 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 58589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sähe is recorded at frequency rank #13,704, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛːə]. salle is at rank #44,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced [sal].

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 58589, this pair ranks #856,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sähe vs salle

Shared letters: es. Private to "sähe": hä. Private to "salle": al.

"sähe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "salle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • salle ← aslle · salel · slale · ssalle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sähe" and "salle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sähe" is a verb and "salle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sähe" or "salle"?
"sähe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,704 in our German list, against #44,885 for "salle". 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 "sähe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "salle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #856,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sähe" and "salle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs salle". 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 #856,989 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