seistvssisConfusable pair

Quick tell: seist is a unknown, sis is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seist” is an unknown and “sis” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,764
“seist” frequency rank
#37,202
“sis” frequency rank
69966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seist sis
Definition 2. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens von sein sechs (6)

Where the eye mixes seist and sis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. seist runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against sis's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
seist
3 ch
sis

Visual trap between seist and sis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seist is [zaɪ̯st] while sis is [sis]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seist is recorded at frequency rank #32,764, classified as anunknown, pronounced [zaɪ̯st]. sis is at rank #37,202, tagged as anum, pronounced [sis].

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 69966, this pair ranks #460,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seist vs sis

Shared letters: is. Private to "seist": et. Private to "sis": -.

"seist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "sis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seist ← esist · seisst · seistt · seits · sesit · siest · sseist

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seist" for "sis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seist" is an unknown and "sis" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "seist" vs "sis" - which ranks higher?
"seist" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,764 in our German list, against #37,202 for "sis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #460,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seist" and "sis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sis". 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 #460,573 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