umkehrenvsumsehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,745
“umkehren” frequency rank
#23,341
“umsehen” frequency rank
47086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature umkehren umsehen
Definition die Bewegungsrichtung ändern die Umgebung betrachten; zu allen Seiten blicken

Where the eye mixes umkehren and umsehen

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

8 ch
umkehren
7 ch
umsehen

Look-alike desk: umkehren vs umsehen

A purely visual mix-up. umkehren ([ˈʊmˌkeːʁən]) and umsehen ([ˈʊmˌzeːən]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

umkehren is recorded at frequency rank #23,745, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʊmˌkeːʁən]. umsehen is at rank #23,341, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʊmˌzeːən].

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 47086, this pair ranks #1,296,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of umkehren vs umsehen

Shared letters: ehmnu. Private to "umkehren": kr. Private to "umsehen": s.

"umkehren" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "umsehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • umkehrenmukehren · ukmehren · umekhren · umkehern · umkehhren · umkehrenn · umkehrne · umkehrren
  • umsehenmusehen · umeshen · ummsehen · umseehn · umsehenn · umsehhen · umsehne · umsheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "umkehren" and "umsehen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊmˌkeːʁən] versus [ˈʊmˌzeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "umkehren" or "umsehen"?
"umsehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,341 in our German list, against #23,745 for "umkehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "umkehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "umsehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,296,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "umkehren" and "umsehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "umkehren vs umzukehren". 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 #1,296,650 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