SiebvssiebteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,309
“Sieb” frequency rank
#15,213
“siebte” frequency rank
40522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sieb siebte
Definition Schale oder Fläche mit Löchern zum Trennen gemischter verschiedenartiger Bestandteile; auch im übertragenen Sinne verwendet (Sieb des Eratosthenes) nach dem beziehungsweise der sechsten kommend; dem achten vorausgehend

Where the eye mixes Sieb and siebte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Sieb
6 ch
siebte

Visual trap between Sieb and siebte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sieb is [ziːp] while siebte is [ˈziːptə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Sieb” sits inside “siebte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sieb is recorded at frequency rank #25,309, classified as anoun, pronounced [ziːp]. siebte is at rank #15,213, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈziːptə].

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 40522, this pair ranks #1,506,018 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sieb vs siebte

Shared letters: beis. Private to "Sieb": -. Private to "siebte": t.

"Sieb" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "siebte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Siebiseb · seib · sibe · siebb · ssieb
  • siebteisebte · seibte · sibete · siebbte · siebet · siebtte · sietbe · ssiebte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sieb" and "siebte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sieb" is a noun and "siebte" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sieb" or "siebte"?
"siebte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,213 in our German list, against #25,309 for "Sieb". 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 "Sieb" and "siebte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sieb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "siebte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,506,018 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sieb" and "siebte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs Sieb". 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 #1,506,018 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