BlechevsbleichTell them apart

Quick tell: Bleche is a noun, bleich is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Bleche” is a noun and “bleich” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,184
“Bleche” frequency rank
#38,648
“bleich” frequency rank
83832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bleche bleich
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Blech eine blasse oder verblasste, sehr helle, unintensive Farbe habend

Where the eye mixes Bleche and bleich

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Bleche
6 ch
bleich

Why the eye confuses Bleche with bleich

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bleche is [ˈblɛçə] while bleich is [blaɪ̯ç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bleche is recorded at frequency rank #45,184, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈblɛçə]. bleich is at rank #38,648, tagged as anadj, pronounced [blaɪ̯ç].

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 83832, this pair ranks #133,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Bleche vs bleich

Shared letters: bcehl. Private to "Bleche": -. Private to "bleich": i.

"Bleche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "bleich" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Blechebbleche · belche · blcehe · blecche · bleceh · blechhe · blehce · blleche
  • bleichbbleich · belich · blecih · bleicch · bleichh · bleihc · bliech · blleich

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bleche" and "bleich" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bleche" is a noun and "bleich" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Bleche" or "bleich" show up more?
"bleich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,648 in our German list, against #45,184 for "Bleche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Bleche" and "bleich" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bleche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bleich" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bleche" and "bleich" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bleche vs Blocher". 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 #133,424 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