sehtvsseiTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,847
“seht” frequency rank
#185
“sei” frequency rank
4032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seht sei
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehen 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes seht and sei

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
seht
3 ch
sei

Visual trap between seht and sei

A purely visual mix-up. seht ([zeːt]) and sei ([zaɪ̯]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seht is recorded at frequency rank #3,847, classified as averb, pronounced [zeːt]. sei is at rank #185, tagged as averb, pronounced [zaɪ̯].

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 4032, this pair ranks #1,998,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seht vs sei

Shared letters: es. Private to "seht": ht. Private to "sei": i.

"seht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sei" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sehtesht · sehht · sehtt · shet · sseht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seht" for "sei" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([zeːt] versus [zaɪ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "seht" vs "sei" - which ranks higher?
"sei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #185 in our German list, against #3,847 for "seht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seht" and "sei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs seht". 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 #1,998,753 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