Which to use
“schön” is an adjective and “sehn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #282
- “schön” frequency rank
- #13,016
- “sehn” frequency rank
- 13298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | schön | sehn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ästhetisch, eine angenehme Wirkung auf die Sinne habend: zum Beispiel ein gutes Aussehen habend, sich gut anhörend | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehnen |
Where the eye mixes schön and sehn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. schön runs 5 letters (CCCVC) against sehn's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: schön vs sehn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schön is [ʃøːn] while sehn is [zeːn]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
schön is recorded at frequency rank #282, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃøːn]. sehn is at rank #13,016, tagged as averb, pronounced [zeːn].
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 13298, this pair ranks #1,958,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of schön vs sehn
Shared letters: hns. Private to "schön": cö. Private to "sehn": e.
"schön" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC · "sehn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sehn ← eshn · sehhn · sehnn · senh · shen · ssehn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "schön" and "sehn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "schön" vs "sehn" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "schön" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sehn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,958,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "schön" and "sehn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sehn". 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 #1,958,872 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.