SehnevssetzeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#22,136
“Sehne” frequency rank
#5,307
“setze” frequency rank
27443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sehne setze
Definition Band aus Bindegewebe zwischen Muskeln und Knochen zur wechselseitigen Übertragung der im Bewegungsablauf auftretenden mechanischen Kräfte 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs setzen

Where the eye mixes Sehne and setze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Sehne
5 ch
setze

Look-alike desk: Sehne vs setze

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sehne is [ˈzeːnə] while setze is [ˈzɛt͡sə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sehne is recorded at frequency rank #22,136, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːnə]. setze is at rank #5,307, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛt͡sə].

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 27443, this pair ranks #1,801,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sehne vs setze

Shared letters: es. Private to "Sehne": hn. Private to "setze": tz.

"Sehne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "setze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sehneeshne · sehhne · senhe · shene · ssehne
  • setzeestze · setez · setzze · sezte · ssetze · steze

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sehne" and "setze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sehne" is a noun and "setze" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Sehne" or "setze" show up more?
"setze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,307 in our German list, against #22,136 for "Sehne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sehne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "setze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,801,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sehne" and "setze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sehne vs Serbe". 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 #1,801,699 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