sitzenvssitzendTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,093
“sitzen” frequency rank
#16,829
“sitzend” frequency rank
17922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sitzen sitzend
Definition sich mit dem Gesäß auf etwas niedergelassen haben Partizip Präsens des Verbs sitzen

Where the eye mixes sitzen and sitzend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sitzen
7 ch
sitzend

Visual trap between sitzen and sitzend

A purely visual mix-up. sitzen ([ˈzɪt͡sn̩]) and sitzend ([ˈzɪt͡sn̩t]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “sitzen” sits inside “sitzend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sitzen is recorded at frequency rank #1,093, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɪt͡sn̩]. sitzend is at rank #16,829, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzɪt͡sn̩t].

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 17922, this pair ranks #1,923,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sitzen vs sitzend

Shared letters: einstz. Private to "sitzen": -. Private to "sitzend": d.

"sitzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sitzend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sitzenistzen · sitezn · sittzen · sitzenn · sitzne · sitzzen · sizten · ssitzen
  • sitzendistzend · siteznd · sittzend · sitzedn · sitzendd · sitzennd · sitzned · sitzzend

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sitzen" and "sitzend" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪt͡sn̩] versus [ˈzɪt͡sn̩t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sitzen" or "sitzend"?
"sitzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,093 in our German list, against #16,829 for "sitzend". 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 "sitzen" and "sitzend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sitzen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sitzend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sitzen" and "sitzend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "singend vs sitzend". 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 #1,923,049 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