SeilenvsseitensConfusable pair

Quick tell: Seilen is a noun, seitens is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Seilen” is a noun and “seitens” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,053
“Seilen” frequency rank
#3,918
“seitens” frequency rank
30971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seilen seitens
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Seil auf der Seite von …; von … aus

Where the eye mixes Seilen and seitens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Seilen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against seitens's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Seilen
7 ch
seitens

Visual trap between Seilen and seitens

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seilen is [ˈzaɪ̯lən] while seitens is [ˈzaɪ̯tn̩s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seilen is recorded at frequency rank #27,053, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯lən]. seitens is at rank #3,918, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯tn̩s].

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 30971, this pair ranks #1,737,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seilen vs seitens

Shared letters: eins. Private to "Seilen": l. Private to "seitens": t.

"Seilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "seitens" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seilen ← esilen · seieln · seilenn · seillen · seilne · selien · sielen · sseilen
  • seitens ← esitens · seietns · seitenns · seitenss · seitesn · seitnes · seittens · setiens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Seilen" and "seitens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seilen" is a noun and "seitens" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Seilen" vs "seitens" - which ranks higher?
"seitens" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,918 in our German list, against #27,053 for "Seilen". 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 "Seilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seitens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,737,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seilen" and "seitens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seilen vs Stilen". 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 #1,737,351 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