SilbenvsSilberTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,936
“Silben” frequency rank
#2,516
“Silber” frequency rank
30452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Silben Silber
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Silbe weißes, glänzendes Metall, Edelmetall

Where the eye mixes Silben and Silber

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

6 ch
Silben
6 ch
Silber

Look-alike desk: Silben vs Silber

A purely visual mix-up. Silben ([ˈzɪlbn̩]) and Silber ([ˈzɪlbɐ]) 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 - n in “Silben” becomes r in “Silber”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Silben is recorded at frequency rank #27,936, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɪlbn̩]. Silber is at rank #2,516, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɪlbɐ].

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 30452, this pair ranks #1,747,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Silben vs Silber

Shared letters: beils. Private to "Silben": n. Private to "Silber": r.

"Silben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Silber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Silbenislben · siblen · silbben · silbenn · silbne · silebn · sillben · sliben
  • Silberislber · sibler · silbber · silberr · silbre · silebr · sillber · sliber

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Silben" and "Silber" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪlbn̩] versus [ˈzɪlbɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Silben" or "Silber"?
"Silber" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,516 in our German list, against #27,936 for "Silben". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Silben" and "Silber" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Silben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Silber" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,747,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Silben" and "Silber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Silben vs Stilen". 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 #1,747,558 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