sehevsshiConfusable pair

Quick tell: sehe is a verb, shi is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sehe” is a verb and “shi” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#573
“sehe” frequency rank
#42,128
“shi” frequency rank
42701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sehe shi
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehen Personalpronomen 3. Person Maskulinum Singular; er

Where the eye mixes sehe and shi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sehe
3 ch
shi

Look-alike desk: sehe vs shi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sehe is [ˈzeːə] while shi is [ʃíː]. 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 (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sehe is recorded at frequency rank #573, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzeːə]. shi is at rank #42,128, tagged as apron, pronounced [ʃíː].

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 42701, this pair ranks #1,441,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sehe vs shi

Shared letters: hs. Private to "sehe": e. Private to "shi": i.

"sehe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "shi" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seheeshe · seeh · sehhe · shee · ssehe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sehe" and "shi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sehe" is a verb and "shi" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sehe" or "shi"?
"sehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #573 in our German list, against #42,128 for "shi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sehe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,441,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sehe" and "shi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs shi". 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 #1,441,268 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