sendevssonderWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sende is a verb, sonder is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sende” is a verb and “sonder” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,995
“sende” frequency rank
#11,754
“sonder” frequency rank
27749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sende sonder
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs senden drückt Abwesenheit aus; ohne

Where the eye mixes sende and sonder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sende
6 ch
sonder

Why the eye confuses sende with sonder

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sende is [ˈzɛndə] while sonder is [ˈzɔndɐ]. 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 (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sende is recorded at frequency rank #15,995, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɛndə]. sonder is at rank #11,754, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈzɔndɐ].

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 27749, this pair ranks #1,796,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sende vs sonder

Shared letters: dens. Private to "sende": -. Private to "sonder": or.

"sende" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sonder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sendeesnde · sedne · sendde · sened · sennde · snede · ssende
  • sonderosnder · snoder · sodner · sondder · sonderr · sondre · sonedr · sonnder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sende" and "sonder" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sende" is a verb and "sonder" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sende" vs "sonder" - which ranks higher?
"sonder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,754 in our German list, against #15,995 for "sende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sonder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,796,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sende" and "sonder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sende vs Sönke". 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 #1,796,521 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