sehenvsstehnWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#187
“sehen” frequency rank
#24,938
“stehn” frequency rank
25125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sehen stehn
Definition aktiv und passiv wahrnehmen über das Sinnesorgan Auge stehen

Where the eye mixes sehen and stehn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sehen
5 ch
stehn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sehen ([ˈzeːən]) and stehn ([ʃteːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sehen is recorded at frequency rank #187, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzeːən]. stehn is at rank #24,938, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃteːn].

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 25125, this pair ranks #1,837,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sehen vs stehn

Shared letters: ehns. Private to "sehen": -. Private to "stehn": t.

"sehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "stehn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seheneshen · seehn · sehenn · sehhen · sheen · ssehen
  • stehnsethn · sstehn · stehhn · stehnn · stenh · sthen · sttehn · tsehn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sehen" and "stehn" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzeːən] versus [ʃteːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sehen" or "stehn"?
"sehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #187 in our German list, against #24,938 for "stehn". 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 "sehen" and "stehn". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stehn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,837,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sehen" and "stehn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stehn 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

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