seem

[siːm]

/[siːm]/ verb

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

The verdict

“seem” is uncommon German (frequency #85,832 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,832
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (zu sein) scheinen, anscheinend sein, erscheinen

Corpus desk

Index DE-seem · seem · German

seem · rank #85,832 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,832
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Seeleuten

Nearest frequency peer: Seeleuten (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „seem“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „seem“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for seem
PropertyValue
Headwordseem
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[siːm]
Letters4
Frequency rank#85,832
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „seem“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).seemfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Seeleuten“ (#85,831), „Seerose“ (#85,833), „scripted“ (#85,830). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „seem“ bei #85,832. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

seem is uncommon German at frequency #85,832 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [siːm]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for seem in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is seem, spelled S-E-E-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    (zu sein) scheinen, anscheinend sein, erscheinen
  2. 2
    scheinen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how seem appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It seems impossible to me.
  2. You seem to believe it.

Synonyms

appearassumelookpretend

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 "seem"?
"seem" is spelled S-E-E-M. The IPA pronunciation is [siːm].
What does "seem" mean?
As a verb, "seem" means: (zu sein) scheinen, anscheinend sein, erscheinen
How do you pronounce "seem"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "seem" is [siːm]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "seem" come from?
"seem" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "seem", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

SNCF#85,856saus#85,793tire#85,938tost#85,943

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list