ShowvsSolWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,333
“Show” frequency rank
#12,592
“Sol” frequency rank
13925
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Show Sol
Definition Vorführung eines (großen) Unterhaltungsprogramms vor Publikum (beispielsweise im Theater oder Varieté; oft in Fernsehen oder Radio übertragen), teilweise mit Informationscharakter römischer Sonnengott

Where the eye mixes Show and Sol

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

4 ch
Show
3 ch
Sol

Why the eye confuses Show with Sol

A purely visual mix-up. Show ([ʃɔʊ̯]) and Sol ([zoːl]) 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 13925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Show is recorded at frequency rank #1,333, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃɔʊ̯]. Sol is at rank #12,592, tagged as anoun, pronounced [zoːl].

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 13925, this pair ranks #1,954,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Show vs Sol

Shared letters: os. Private to "Show": hw. Private to "Sol": l.

"Show" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Sol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Showhsow · shhow · showw · shwo · sohw · sshow

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Show" for "Sol" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃɔʊ̯] versus [zoːl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Show" or "Sol" show up more?
"Show" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,333 in our German list, against #12,592 for "Sol". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Show" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,954,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Show" and "Sol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs Sol". 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 #1,954,746 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