SeifevsspiceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,017
“Seife” frequency rank
#32,775
“spice” frequency rank
45792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seife spice
Definition ein wasserlösliches Reinigungsmittel für Körperhygiene Teile von Pflanzen, die wegen ihres natürlichen Gehaltes an Geschmacks- und Geruchsstoffen als würzende oder geschmacksgebende Zutaten bei der Zubereitung von Speisen und Getränken aller Art eingesetzt werden

Where the eye mixes Seife and spice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Seife (CVVCV) and spice (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Seife
5 ch
spice

Why the eye confuses Seife with spice

A purely visual mix-up. Seife ([ˈzaɪ̯fə]) and spice ([spaɪs]) 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 45792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seife is recorded at frequency rank #13,017, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯fə]. spice is at rank #32,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced [spaɪs].

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 45792, this pair ranks #1,341,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Seife vs spice

Shared letters: eis. Private to "Seife": f. Private to "spice": cp.

"Seife" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "spice" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seife ← esife · sefie · seief · seiffe · siefe · sseife
  • spice ← psice · sipce · spcie · spicce · spiec · sppice · sspice

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Seife" and "spice" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzaɪ̯fə] versus [spaɪs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Seife" vs "spice" - which ranks higher?
"Seife" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,017 in our German list, against #32,775 for "spice". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,341,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seife" and "spice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sire vs spice". 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 #1,341,088 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