SehnevsSühneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,136
“Sehne” frequency rank
#41,488
“Sühne” frequency rank
63624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sehne Sühne
Definition Band aus Bindegewebe zwischen Muskeln und Knochen zur wechselseitigen Übertragung der im Bewegungsablauf auftretenden mechanischen Kräfte eine Wiedergutmachung, eine Genugtuung, eine Leistung für ein begangenes Unrecht oder ein Verschulden

Where the eye mixes Sehne and Sühne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Sehne and Sühne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Sehne
5 ch
Sühne

Visual trap between Sehne and Sühne

A purely visual mix-up. Sehne ([ˈzeːnə]) and Sühne ([ˈzyːnə]) 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 - e in “Sehne” becomes ü in “Sühne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63624, 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]. Sühne is at rank #41,488, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzyːnə].

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 63624, this pair ranks #670,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sehne vs Sühne

Shared letters: ehns. Private to "Sehne": -. Private to "Sühne": ü.

"Sehne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Sühne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sehne ← eshne · sehhne · senhe · shene · ssehne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sehne" and "Sühne" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzeːnə] versus [ˈzyːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Sehne" vs "Sühne" - which ranks higher?
"Sehne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,136 in our German list, against #41,488 for "Sühne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Sehne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sühne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #670,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sehne" and "Sühne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sohns vs Sühne". 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 #670,171 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