Which to use
“sehr” is a particle and “self” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #81
- “sehr” frequency rank
- #11,966
- “self” frequency rank
- 12047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sehr | self |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in hohem Maße, besonders | das Selbst; das Ich |
Where the eye mixes sehr and self
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sehr and self follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between sehr and self
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sehr is [zeːɐ̯] while self is [self]. 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 (particle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sehr is recorded at frequency rank #81, classified as aparticle, pronounced [zeːɐ̯]. self is at rank #11,966, tagged as anoun, pronounced [self].
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 12047, this pair ranks #1,966,486 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sehr vs self
Shared letters: es. Private to "sehr": hr. Private to "self": fl.
"sehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "self" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sehr" and "self" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sehr" or "self"?
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 "sehr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "self" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,966,486 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sehr" and "self" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs self". 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 #1,966,486 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.