shortvssorgWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,751
“short” frequency rank
#27,494
“sorg” frequency rank
39245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature short sorg
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs shorten 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sorgen

Where the eye mixes short and sorg

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
short
4 ch
sorg

Visual trap between short and sorg

A purely visual mix-up. short ([ʃɔːɐ̯t]) and sorg ([zɔʁk]) 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 39245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

short is recorded at frequency rank #11,751, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃɔːɐ̯t]. sorg is at rank #27,494, tagged as averb, pronounced [zɔʁk].

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 39245, this pair ranks #1,542,037 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of short vs sorg

Shared letters: ors. Private to "short": ht. Private to "sorg": g.

"short" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "sorg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shorthsort · shhort · shorrt · shortt · shotr · shrot · sohrt · sshort
  • sorgosrg · sogr · sorgg · sorrg · srog · ssorg

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "short" for "sorg" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃɔːɐ̯t] versus [zɔʁk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "short" or "sorg"?
"short" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,751 in our German list, against #27,494 for "sorg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "short" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sorg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,542,037 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "short" and "sorg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sorg". 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 #1,542,037 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