sellvsSexTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,387
“sell” frequency rank
#722
“Sex” frequency rank
29109
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sell Sex
Definition Transaktion Ware gegen Geld: Verkauf Sexualität, Gesamtheit der mit dem Geschlechtsleben verbundenen Einstellungen und Praktiken

Where the eye mixes sell and Sex

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sell
3 ch
Sex

Why the eye confuses sell with Sex

A purely visual mix-up. sell ([sɛl]) and Sex ([sɛks]) 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 29109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sell is recorded at frequency rank #28,387, classified as anoun, pronounced [sɛl]. Sex is at rank #722, tagged as anoun, pronounced [sɛks].

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 29109, this pair ranks #1,772,876 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sell vs Sex

Shared letters: es. Private to "sell": l. Private to "Sex": x.

"sell" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Sex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sellesll · slel · ssell

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sell" and "Sex" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([sɛl] versus [sɛks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sell" or "Sex"?
"Sex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #722 in our German list, against #28,387 for "sell". 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 "sell" and "Sex" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sell" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,772,876 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sell" and "Sex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sell". 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 #1,772,876 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