umzukehrenvsumzusehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,351
“umzukehren” frequency rank
#44,305
“umzusehen” frequency rank
90656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature umzukehren umzusehen
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs umkehren erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs umsehen

Where the eye mixes umzukehren and umzusehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. umzukehren runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCCVC) against umzusehen's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
umzukehren
9 ch
umzusehen

Look-alike desk: umzukehren vs umzusehen

A purely visual mix-up. umzukehren ([ˈʊmt͡suˌkeːʁən]) and umzusehen ([ˈʊmt͡suˌzeːən]) 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 90656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

umzukehren is recorded at frequency rank #46,351, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʊmt͡suˌkeːʁən]. umzusehen is at rank #44,305, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʊmt͡suˌzeːən].

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 90656, this pair ranks #44,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of umzukehren vs umzusehen

Shared letters: ehmnuz. Private to "umzukehren": kr. Private to "umzusehen": s.

"umzukehren" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "umzusehen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • umzukehren ← muzukehren · ummzukehren · umuzkehren · umzkuehren · umzuekhren · umzukehern · umzukehhren · umzukehrenn
  • umzusehen ← muzusehen · ummzusehen · umuzsehen · umzsuehen · umzueshen · umzuseehn · umzusehenn · umzusehhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "umzukehren" for "umzusehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊmt͡suˌkeːʁən] versus [ˈʊmt͡suˌzeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "umzukehren" vs "umzusehen" - which ranks higher?
"umzusehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,305 in our German list, against #46,351 for "umzukehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "umzukehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "umzusehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "umzukehren" and "umzusehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "umzusehen vs umzuziehen". 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 #44,933 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