Which to use
“sehen” and “seien” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #187
- “sehen” frequency rank
- #782
- “seien” frequency rank
- 969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sehen | seien |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | aktiv und passiv wahrnehmen über das Sinnesorgan Auge | 1. Person Plural Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sein |
Where the eye mixes sehen and seien
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. sehen ([ˈzeːən]) and seien ([ˈzaɪ̯ən]) 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 a single letter - h in “sehen” becomes i in “seien”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sehen is recorded at frequency rank #187, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzeːən]. seien is at rank #782, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯ən].
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 969, this pair ranks #2,005,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sehen vs seien
Shared letters: ens. Private to "sehen": h. Private to "seien": i.
"sehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "seien" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC