SerbenvssiebenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Serben is a noun, sieben is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Serben” is a noun and “sieben” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,131
“Serben” frequency rank
#912
“sieben” frequency rank
18043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Serben sieben
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Serbe die Kardinalzahl zwischen sechs und acht

Where the eye mixes Serben and sieben

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

6 ch
Serben
6 ch
sieben

Look-alike desk: Serben vs sieben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Serben is [ˈzɛʁbn̩] while sieben is [ˈziːbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Serben is recorded at frequency rank #17,131, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛʁbn̩]. sieben is at rank #912, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈziːbn̩].

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 18043, this pair ranks #1,921,945 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Serben vs sieben

Shared letters: bens. Private to "Serben": r. Private to "sieben": i.

"Serben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sieben" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Serbenesrben · sebren · serbben · serbenn · serbne · serebn · serrben · sreben
  • siebeniseben · seiben · sibeen · siebben · siebenn · siebne · sieebn · ssieben

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Serben" and "sieben" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Serben" is a noun and "sieben" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Serben" or "sieben" show up more?
"sieben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #912 in our German list, against #17,131 for "Serben". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Serben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sieben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,945 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Serben" and "sieben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Serben vs Stuben". 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 #1,921,945 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