sie

[ziː]

/[ziː]/ pron

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

The verdict

“sie” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#18
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Personalpronomen 3. Person Femininum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Femininum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswor...

Corpus desk

Index DE-sie · sie · German

sie · rank #18 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #18
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH im

Nearest frequency peer: im (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sie”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sie” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

sie vs so
33% similar
sie vs SV
0% similar
sie vs SS
0% similar

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

Key facts for sie
PropertyValue
Headwordsie
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[ziː]
Letters3
Frequency rank#18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sie” 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). sie lands here:

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

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

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for sie is neighbouring look-alikes ("so", "SV", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced [ziː]. Frequency #18 among 8,027 “S” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sie, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "so", "SV", "SS", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is sie, spelled S-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personalpronomen 3. Person Femininum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Femininum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswort auf eine Person weiblichen natürlichen Geschlechts verweist
  2. 2
    Personalpronomen 3. Person alle Genera Plural, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Plural (Personen, Tiere, Sachen oder Abstrakta) ersetzt oder direkt auf mehrere Personen verweist
  3. 3
    Personalpronomen 3. Person alle Genera Plural, welches auf nicht näher bezeichnete Personen verweist; Unbekannte oder man

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Das Mädchen war so in sein Spiel vertieft, dass es die Zeit vergaß. Dadurch kam sie zu spät nachhause.
  2. Die Wache setzte ihr Gewehr so heftig ab, dass sie es beschädigte. Dafür bekam der Soldat eine Rüge.

This word in other languages

she(English)ella(Español)elle(Français)ela(Português)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sie"?
"sie" is spelled S-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ziː].
What does "sie" mean?
As a pronoun, "sie" means: Personalpronomen 3. Person Femininum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Femininum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswor...
What words are commonly confused with "sie"?
"sie" is commonly confused with "so", "SV", "SS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sie" is [ziː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sie" come from?
"sie" 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 "sie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

für#16auf#15dem#22des#23
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