zevsZofeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ze is a pronoun, Zofe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ze” is a pronoun and “Zofe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,459
“ze” frequency rank
#47,152
“Zofe” frequency rank
66611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ze Zofe
Definition unbetonte Form des Personalpronomens zij (Subjektform der dritten Person Singular Femininum): sie Bedienstete einer vornehmen, höhergestellten Dame, Herrin

Where the eye mixes ze and Zofe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ze runs 2 letters (CV) against Zofe's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

2 ch
ze
4 ch
Zofe

Look-alike desk: ze vs Zofe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ze is [zə] while Zofe is [ˈt͡soːfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66611, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ze is recorded at frequency rank #19,459, classified as apron, pronounced [zə]. Zofe is at rank #47,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡soːfə].

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 66611, this pair ranks #567,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ze vs Zofe

Shared letters: ez. Private to "ze": -. Private to "Zofe": fo.

"ze" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "Zofe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Zofe ← ozfe · zfoe · zoef · zoffe · zzofe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ze" and "Zofe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ze" is a pronoun and "Zofe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ze" or "Zofe"?
"ze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,459 in our German list, against #47,152 for "Zofe". 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 "ze" and "Zofe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Zofe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #567,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ze" and "Zofe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Zobel vs Zofe". 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 #567,424 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