SamenvssausenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,466
“Samen” frequency rank
#36,608
“sausen” frequency rank
43074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Samen sausen
Definition vielzelliger Fortpflanzungskörper der Samenpflanzen ein scharfes Geräusch verursachen, das gleichmäßig an- und abschwillt und an Reibung erinnert

Where the eye mixes Samen and sausen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Samen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against sausen's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Samen
6 ch
sausen

Visual trap between Samen and sausen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Samen is [ˈzaːmən] while sausen is [ˈzaʊ̯zn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Samen is recorded at frequency rank #6,466, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːmən]. sausen is at rank #36,608, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzaʊ̯zn̩].

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 43074, this pair ranks #1,429,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Samen vs sausen

Shared letters: aens. Private to "Samen": m. Private to "sausen": u.

"Samen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sausen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Samen ← asmen · saemn · samenn · sammen · samne · smaen · ssamen
  • sausen ← asusen · sasuen · sauesn · sausenn · sausne · saussen · ssausen · suasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Samen" for "sausen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Samen" is a noun and "sausen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Samen" or "sausen" show up more?
"Samen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,466 in our German list, against #36,608 for "sausen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Samen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sausen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,429,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Samen" and "sausen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sausen vs Stuten". 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 #1,429,446 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