sei vs skip, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#185
“sei” frequency rank: #32,770
“skip” frequency rank: 32955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sei	skip
Definition	2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs sein	auslassen, überspringen

Where the eye mixes sei and skip

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

3 ch

sei

4 ch

skip

Why the eye confuses sei with skip

A purely visual mix-up. sei ([zaɪ̯]) and skip ([skɪp]) 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 32955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sei is recorded at frequency rank #185, classified as averb, pronounced [zaɪ̯]. skip is at rank #32,770, tagged as averb, pronounced [skɪp].

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 32955, this pair ranks #1,696,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sei vs skip

Shared letters: is. Private to "sei": e. Private to "skip": kp.

"sei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "skip" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

skip ← ksip · sikp · skipp · skkip · skpi · sskip

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sei" for "skip" ever safe?

No. They are said differently ([zaɪ̯] versus [skɪp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary German text, does "sei" or "skip" show up more?

"sei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #185 in our German list, against #32,770 for "skip". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "sei" and "skip" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "sei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "skip" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,696,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sei" and "skip" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sil vs skip". 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 #1,696,482 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.