sintvssonstWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sint is a verb, sonst is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sint” is a verb and “sonst” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,815
“sint” frequency rank
#334
“sonst” frequency rank
34149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sint sonst
Definition 3. Person Plural Konjunktiv Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse für gewöhnlich, im allgemeinen, bei anderen Gelegenheiten, zu anderer Zeit als gerade jetzt

Letter map: sint vs sonst

Shared letters muted; letters that set sint and sonst apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
sint
5 ch
sonst

Role in the sentence - sint and sonst

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sint is averb and sonstanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sint is recorded at frequency rank #33,815, classified as averb, pronounced […]. sonst is at rank #334, tagged as anadv, pronounced [zɔnst].

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 34149, this pair ranks #1,669,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sint vs sonst

Shared letters: nst. Private to "sint": i. Private to "sonst": o.

"sint" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sonst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sintisnt · sinnt · sintt · sitn · snit · ssint
  • sonstosnst · snost · sonnst · sonsst · sonstt · sonts · sosnt · ssonst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sint" and "sonst" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sint" is a verb and "sonst" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sint" vs "sonst" - which ranks higher?
"sonst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #334 in our German list, against #33,815 for "sint". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sint" and "sonst".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sonst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,669,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sint" and "sonst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sint". 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 #1,669,979 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