SeelevssteheConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,711
“Seele” frequency rank
#2,179
“stehe” frequency rank
3890
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seele stehe
Definition charakteristisches Merkmal lebender Wesen; der unsterbliche Teil der (fühlenden) Lebewesen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen

Where the eye mixes Seele and stehe

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

5 ch
Seele
5 ch
stehe

Look-alike desk: Seele vs stehe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seele is [ˈzeːlə] while stehe is [ˈʃteːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3890, 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]. stehe is at rank #2,179, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːə].

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 3890, this pair ranks #1,999,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seele vs stehe

Shared letters: es. Private to "Seele": l. Private to "stehe": ht.

"Seele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "stehe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seeleesele · seeel · seelle · sele · selee · sseele
  • stehesethe · sstehe · steeh · stehhe · sthee · sttehe · tsehe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seele" and "stehe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seele" is a noun and "stehe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Seele" vs "stehe" - which ranks higher?
"Seele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,711 in our German list, against #2,179 for "stehe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stehe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,999,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seele" and "stehe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stehe vs steps". 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 #1,999,117 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