siegenvssiegteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,683
“siegen” frequency rank
#9,453
“siegte” frequency rank
13136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature siegen siegte
Definition über einen Gegner dominieren 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs siegen

Where the eye mixes siegen and siegte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
siegen
6 ch
siegte

Visual trap between siegen and siegte

A purely visual mix-up. siegen ([ˈziːɡn̩]) and siegte ([ˈziːktə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

siegen is recorded at frequency rank #3,683, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈziːɡn̩]. siegte is at rank #9,453, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈziːktə].

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 13136, this pair ranks #1,959,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of siegen vs siegte

Shared letters: egis. Private to "siegen": n. Private to "siegte": t.

"siegen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "siegte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • siegenisegen · seigen · sieegn · siegenn · sieggen · siegne · sigeen · ssiegen
  • siegteisegte · seigte · sieget · sieggte · siegtte · sietge · sigete · ssiegte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "siegen" for "siegte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈziːɡn̩] versus [ˈziːktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "siegen" or "siegte"?
"siegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,683 in our German list, against #9,453 for "siegte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "siegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "siegte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "siegen" and "siegte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "siegte vs Stiege". 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 #1,959,890 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