sensvssiesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sens is a noun, sies is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sens” is a noun and “sies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,806
“sens” frequency rank
#40,209
“sies” frequency rank
83015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sens sies
Definition Bedeutung; Sinn archaisch: 2. Person Singular Konjunktiv Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse

Letter map: sens vs sies

Shared letters muted; letters that set sens and sies apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. sens (CVCC) and sies (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
sens
4 ch
sies

Grammar separator: sens vs sies

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sens is anoun and siesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sens is recorded at frequency rank #42,806, classified as anoun, pronounced [sɑ̃s]. sies is at rank #40,209, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 83015, this pair ranks #147,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sens vs sies

Shared letters: es. Private to "sens": n. Private to "sies": i.

"sens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sens ← esns · senns · senss · sesn · snes · ssens
  • sies ← seis · siess · sise · ssies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sens" and "sies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sens" is a noun and "sies" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sens" or "sies"?
"sies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,209 in our German list, against #42,806 for "sens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "sens" vs "sies" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sens" and "sies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sens". 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 #147,085 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