seinsvsstingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: seins is a unknown, sting is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seins” is an unknown and “sting” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,475
“seins” frequency rank
#39,049
“sting” frequency rank
54524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seins sting
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum bei nicht attributivem Gebrauch des Possessivpronomens sein die manchen Tieren und Pflanzen eigene spitze Waffe (mit Gift)

Where the eye mixes seins and sting

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

5 ch
seins
5 ch
sting

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seins is [zaɪ̯ns] while sting is [stɪŋ]. 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 (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seins is recorded at frequency rank #15,475, classified as anunknown, pronounced [zaɪ̯ns]. sting is at rank #39,049, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stɪŋ].

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 54524, this pair ranks #1,015,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seins vs sting

Shared letters: ins. Private to "seins": e. Private to "sting": gt.

"seins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "sting" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seinsesins · seinns · seinss · seisn · senis · siens · sseins
  • stingsitng · ssting · stign · stingg · stinng · stnig · stting · tsing

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seins" and "sting" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seins" is an unknown and "sting" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seins" or "sting"?
"seins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,475 in our German list, against #39,049 for "sting". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "seins" and "sting". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,015,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seins" and "sting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Satin vs sting". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list