Seiten vs seither, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Seiten” is a noun and “seither” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#641
“Seiten” frequency rank: #4,647
“seither” frequency rank: 5288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Seiten	seither
Definition	Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Seite	von einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt an

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Seiten and seither apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

Seiten

7 ch

seither

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seiten is [ˈzaɪ̯tn̩] while seither is [ˌzaɪ̯tˈheːɐ̯]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seiten is recorded at frequency rank #641, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯tn̩]. seither is at rank #4,647, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˌzaɪ̯tˈheːɐ̯].

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 5288, this pair ranks #1,995,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seiten vs seither

Shared letters: eist. Private to "Seiten": n. Private to "seither": hr.

"Seiten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "seither" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Seiten ← esiten · seietn · seitenn · seitne · seitten · setien · sieten · sseiten
seither ← esither · seihter · seitehr · seitherr · seithher · seithre · seitther · setiher

Frequency comparison

Seiten#641

seither#4,647

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seiten" and "seither" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seiten" is a noun and "seither" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Seiten" or "seither"?

"Seiten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #641 in our German list, against #4,647 for "seither". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Seiten vs seither

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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