s

abbrev

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“s” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #172 in German word frequency and used as an abbreviation.

#172
frequency rank, German
1
letter
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Kleinbuchstabe zu „S“

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

s vs so
50% similar
s vs Sc
0% similar
s vs SV
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for s
PropertyValue
Headwords
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters1
Frequency rank#172
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “s” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). s lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for s is 1 letters long, classified as an abbreviation. Corpus data places it at rank #172 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Kleinbuchstabe zu „S“".

Zero misspellings are on record for s in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "so", "Sc", "SV", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is s, spelled S.

Definition

  1. 1
    19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Kleinbuchstabe zu „S“

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "s"?
"s" is spelled S.
What does "s" mean?
As an abbreviation, "s" means: 19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Kleinbuchstabe zu „S“
What words are commonly confused with "s"?
"s" is commonly confused with "so", "Sc", "SV". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "s" come from?
"s" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “s”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “so” - see the side-by-side comparison. s vs so
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list