seligenvsseltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“seligen” and “selten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,903
“seligen” frequency rank
#911
“selten” frequency rank
35814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seligen selten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs selig nur in geringen Mengen vorhanden

Where the eye mixes seligen and selten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
seligen
6 ch
selten

Look-alike desk: seligen vs selten

A purely visual mix-up. seligen ([ˈzeːˌlɪɡn̩]) and selten ([ˈzɛltn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seligen is recorded at frequency rank #34,903, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzeːˌlɪɡn̩]. selten is at rank #911, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltn̩].

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 35814, this pair ranks #1,630,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seligen vs selten

Shared letters: elns. Private to "seligen": gi. Private to "selten": t.

"seligen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "selten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seligenesligen · seilgen · selgien · seliegn · seligenn · seliggen · seligne · selligen
  • selteneslten · seletn · sellten · seltenn · seltne · seltten · setlen · sleten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "seligen" and "selten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzeːˌlɪɡn̩] versus [ˈzɛltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seligen" or "selten"?
"selten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #911 in our German list, against #34,903 for "seligen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "seligen" and "selten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seligen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "selten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,630,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seligen" and "selten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seligen vs seliger". 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 #1,630,878 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