Which to use
“sich” is a pronoun and “sies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20
- “sich” frequency rank
- #40,209
- “sies” frequency rank
- 40229
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sich | sies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Reflexivpronomen der dritten Person Singular | archaisch: 2. Person Singular Konjunktiv Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse |
Letter map: sich vs sies
Shared letters muted; letters that set sich and sies apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for sich / sies
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sich is apronoun and siesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sich is recorded at frequency rank #20, classified as apron, pronounced [zɪç]. 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 40229, this pair ranks #1,514,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sich vs sies
Shared letters: is. Private to "sich": ch. Private to "sies": e.
"sich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sich" for "sies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sich" vs "sies" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sich" and "sies".
- Full dictionary entry for "sich" 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 #1,514,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sich" and "sies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sies". 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 #1,514,469 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.