sehen
[ˈzeːən]
The verdict
“sehen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #187 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #187
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - aktiv und passiv wahrnehmen über das Sinnesorgan Auge
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sehen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈzeːən] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #187 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sehen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for sehen is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈzeːən]. Corpus data places it at rank #187 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for sehen, with forms such as "eshen", "seehn", and "sehenn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "she", "sein", "sehr", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is sehen, spelled S-E-H-E-N.
Definition
- 1aktiv und passiv wahrnehmen über das Sinnesorgan Auge
- 2erkennen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eshen,seehn,sehenn,sehhen,sheen,ssehen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sehen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "sehen"?
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Using “sehen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-E-H-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈzeːən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “she” - see the side-by-side comparison. sehen vs she
- 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.