SeidevssetzeTell them apart

Quick tell: Seide is a noun, setze is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Seide” is a noun and “setze” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,408
“Seide” frequency rank
#5,307
“setze” frequency rank
19715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seide setze
Definition feine Textilfaser, die aus den Kokons der Seidenraupe gewonnen wird 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs setzen

Where the eye mixes Seide and setze

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

5 ch
Seide
5 ch
setze

Look-alike desk: Seide vs setze

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seide is [ˈzaɪ̯də] while setze is [ˈzɛt͡sə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seide is recorded at frequency rank #14,408, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯də]. setze is at rank #5,307, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛt͡sə].

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 19715, this pair ranks #1,905,410 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seide vs setze

Shared letters: es. Private to "Seide": di. Private to "setze": tz.

"Seide" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "setze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seideeside · sedie · seidde · seied · siede · sseide
  • setzeestze · setez · setzze · sezte · ssetze · steze

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seide" and "setze" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seide" is a noun and "setze" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Seide" vs "setze" - which ranks higher?
"setze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,307 in our German list, against #14,408 for "Seide". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Seide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "setze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,905,410 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seide" and "setze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seide vs Sire". 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 #1,905,410 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