Which to use
“sehn” is a verb and “sehr” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,016
- “sehn” frequency rank
- #81
- “sehr” frequency rank
- 13097
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sehn | sehr |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehnen | in hohem Maße, besonders |
Where the eye mixes sehn and sehr
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sehn and sehr follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between sehn and sehr
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sehn is [zeːn] while sehr is [zeːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “sehn” becomes r in “sehr”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sehn is recorded at frequency rank #13,016, classified as averb, pronounced [zeːn]. sehr is at rank #81, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [zeːɐ̯].
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 13097, this pair ranks #1,960,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sehn vs sehr
Shared letters: ehs. Private to "sehn": n. Private to "sehr": r.
"sehn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sehn" and "sehr" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "sehn" or "sehr" show up more?
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 "sehn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sehr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,960,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sehn" and "sehr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sehn". 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 #1,960,144 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.