SehervsstehenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#39,624
“Seher” frequency rank
#297
“stehen” frequency rank
39921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seher stehen
Definition jemand, der sich etwas ansieht sich auf den Beinen ohne Ortsveränderung aufhalten

Where the eye mixes Seher and stehen

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

5 ch
Seher
6 ch
stehen

Why the eye confuses Seher with stehen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seher is [ˈzeːɐ] while stehen is [ˈʃteːən]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seher is recorded at frequency rank #39,624, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːɐ]. stehen is at rank #297, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːən].

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 39921, this pair ranks #1,523,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seher vs stehen

Shared letters: ehs. Private to "Seher": r. Private to "stehen": nt.

"Seher" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "stehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seheresher · seehr · seherr · sehher · sehre · sheer · sseher
  • stehensethen · sstehen · steehn · stehenn · stehhen · stehne · stheen · sttehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Seher" for "stehen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seher" is a noun and "stehen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Seher" or "stehen"?
"stehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #297 in our German list, against #39,624 for "Seher". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,523,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seher" and "stehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seher vs steter". 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 #1,523,112 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