sehrvsSteyrWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sehr is a particle, Steyr is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sehr” is a particle and “Steyr” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#81
“sehr” frequency rank
#16,006
“Steyr” frequency rank
16087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sehr Steyr
Definition in hohem Maße, besonders Stadt in Oberösterreich, Namensgeberin für die Steiermark

Where the eye mixes sehr and Steyr

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

4 ch
sehr
5 ch
Steyr

Look-alike desk: sehr vs Steyr

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sehr is [zeːɐ̯] while Steyr is [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɐ]. 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 (particle vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sehr is recorded at frequency rank #81, classified as aparticle, pronounced [zeːɐ̯]. Steyr is at rank #16,006, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɐ].

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 16087, this pair ranks #1,938,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sehr vs Steyr

Shared letters: ers. Private to "sehr": h. Private to "Steyr": ty.

"sehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Steyr" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sehreshr · sehhr · sehrr · serh · sher · ssehr
  • Steyrsetyr · ssteyr · stery · steyrr · steyyr · stteyr · styer · tseyr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sehr" for "Steyr" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sehr" is a particle and "Steyr" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sehr" vs "Steyr" - which ranks higher?
"sehr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #81 in our German list, against #16,006 for "Steyr". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "Steyr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,938,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sehr" and "Steyr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steps vs Steyr". 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 #1,938,708 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