SeelevssoleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,711
“Seele” frequency rank
#27,493
“sole” frequency rank
29204
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seele sole
Definition charakteristisches Merkmal lebender Wesen; der unsterbliche Teil der (fühlenden) Lebewesen nächster Stern zur Erde und Zentrum unseres Sonnensystems; Sonne

Where the eye mixes Seele and sole

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

5 ch
Seele
4 ch
sole

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Seele ([ˈzeːlə]) and sole ([ˈsole]) 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 29204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seele is recorded at frequency rank #1,711, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːlə]. sole is at rank #27,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsole].

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 29204, this pair ranks #1,771,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seele vs sole

Shared letters: els. Private to "Seele": -. Private to "sole": o.

"Seele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "sole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seeleesele · seeel · seelle · sele · selee · sseele
  • soleosle · sloe · soel · ssole

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seele" and "sole" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzeːlə] versus [ˈsole]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Seele" or "sole"?
"Seele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,711 in our German list, against #27,493 for "sole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Seele" and "sole". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,771,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seele" and "sole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sire vs sole". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list