sähevssnakeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,704
“sähe” frequency rank
#27,940
“snake” frequency rank
41644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sähe snake
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sehen Schlange

Where the eye mixes sähe and snake

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sähe
5 ch
snake

Visual trap between sähe and snake

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sähe is [ˈzɛːə] while snake is [sneɪk]. 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 41644, 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]. snake is at rank #27,940, tagged as anoun, pronounced [sneɪk].

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 41644, this pair ranks #1,473,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sähe vs snake

Shared letters: es. Private to "sähe": . Private to "snake": akn.

"sähe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "snake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • snakensake · sanke · snaek · snakke · snkae · snnake · ssnake

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sähe" for "snake" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sähe" is a verb and "snake" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "sähe" or "snake" show up more?
"sähe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,704 in our German list, against #27,940 for "snake". 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 "sähe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "snake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,473,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sähe" and "snake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs snake". 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 #1,473,276 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