sehtvsshutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,847
“seht” frequency rank
#47,728
“shut” frequency rank
51575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seht shut
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sehen schließen

Where the eye mixes seht and shut

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

4 ch
seht
4 ch
shut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. seht ([zeːt]) and shut ([ʃʌt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51575, 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]. shut is at rank #47,728, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃʌt].

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 51575, this pair ranks #1,130,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seht vs shut

Shared letters: hst. Private to "seht": e. Private to "shut": u.

"seht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sehtesht · sehht · sehtt · shet · sseht
  • shutshhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seht" and "shut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([zeːt] versus [ʃʌt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seht" or "shut"?
"seht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,847 in our German list, against #47,728 for "shut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "seht" and "shut". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,130,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seht" and "shut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs shut". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list