SinnevsSinusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,122
“Sinne” frequency rank
#36,626
“Sinus” frequency rank
37748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sinne Sinus
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Sinn eine trigonometrische Funktion

Where the eye mixes Sinne and Sinus

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

5 ch
Sinne
5 ch
Sinus

Look-alike desk: Sinne vs Sinus

A purely visual mix-up. Sinne ([ˈzɪnə]) and Sinus ([ˈziːnʊs]) 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 37748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sinne is recorded at frequency rank #1,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɪnə]. Sinus is at rank #36,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈziːnʊs].

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 37748, this pair ranks #1,582,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sinne vs Sinus

Shared letters: ins. Private to "Sinne": e. Private to "Sinus": u.

"Sinne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Sinus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sinneisnne · sine · sinen · snine · ssinne
  • Sinusisnus · sinnus · sinsu · sinuss · siuns · snius · ssinus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sinne" for "Sinus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪnə] versus [ˈziːnʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Sinne" or "Sinus"?
"Sinne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,122 in our German list, against #36,626 for "Sinus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sinne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sinus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,582,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sinne" and "Sinus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sands vs Sinus". 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 #1,582,039 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