SeilenvssenkenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,053
“Seilen” frequency rank
#5,879
“senken” frequency rank
32932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seilen senken
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Seil in eine niedrigere Position bringen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Seilen and senken apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Seilen
6 ch
senken

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seilen is [ˈzaɪ̯lən] while senken is [ˈzɛŋkn̩]. 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 32932, 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]. senken is at rank #5,879, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkn̩].

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 32932, this pair ranks #1,696,985 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seilen vs senken

Shared letters: ens. Private to "Seilen": il. Private to "senken": k.

"Seilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "senken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seilenesilen · seieln · seilenn · seillen · seilne · selien · sielen · sseilen
  • senkenesnken · seknen · senekn · senkenn · senkken · senkne · sennken · sneken

Frequency comparison

Seilen#27,053
senken#5,879

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seilen" and "senken" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seilen" is a noun and "senken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Seilen" or "senken"?
"senken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,879 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.

Remembering Seilen vs senken

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Seilen”; for a verb, it's “senken”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Seilen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list