SiebvsSiegWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,309
“Sieb” frequency rank
#1,092
“Sieg” frequency rank
26401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sieb Sieg
Definition Schale oder Fläche mit Löchern zum Trennen gemischter verschiedenartiger Bestandteile; auch im übertragenen Sinne verwendet (Sieb des Eratosthenes) das Gewinnen eines (Wett-)Kampfes/eines Spiels/einer militärischen Auseinandersetzung

Where the eye mixes Sieb and Sieg

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

4 ch
Sieb
4 ch
Sieg

Look-alike desk: Sieb vs Sieg

A purely visual mix-up. Sieb ([ziːp]) and Sieg ([ziːk]) 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 a single letter - b in “Sieb” becomes g in “Sieg”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26401, 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]. Sieg is at rank #1,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ziːk].

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 26401, this pair ranks #1,818,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sieb vs Sieg

Shared letters: eis. Private to "Sieb": b. Private to "Sieg": g.

"Sieb" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Sieg" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Siebiseb · seib · sibe · siebb · ssieb
  • Siegiseg · seig · siegg · sige · ssieg

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sieb" for "Sieg" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ziːp] versus [ziːk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Sieb" vs "Sieg" - which ranks higher?
"Sieg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,092 in our German list, against #25,309 for "Sieb". 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 "Sieb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sieg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,818,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sieb" and "Sieg" 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 #1,818,699 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