SeenvssehtConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#7,816
“Seen” frequency rank
#3,847
“seht” frequency rank
11663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seen seht
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs See 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehen

Where the eye mixes Seen and seht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Seen (CVVC) and seht (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Seen
4 ch
seht

Look-alike desk: Seen vs seht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seen is [ˈzeːən] while seht is [zeːt]. 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 11663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seen is recorded at frequency rank #7,816, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːən]. seht is at rank #3,847, tagged as averb, pronounced [zeːt].

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 11663, this pair ranks #1,968,608 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seen vs seht

Shared letters: es. Private to "Seen": n. Private to "seht": ht.

"Seen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "seht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seenseenn · sen · sene · sseen
  • sehtesht · sehht · sehtt · shet · sseht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Seen" for "seht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seen" is a noun and "seht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Seen" or "seht"?
"seht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,847 in our German list, against #7,816 for "Seen". 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 "Seen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,968,608 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seen" and "seht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seen vs seg". 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 #1,968,608 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