Which to use
“bleiche” is an adjective and “bleichen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,649
- “bleiche” frequency rank
- #38,650
- “bleichen” frequency rank
- 77299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bleiche | bleichen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bleich | durch bestimmte Behandlung heller machen; den Gilb entfernen |
Where the eye mixes bleiche and bleichen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bleiche with bleichen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bleiche is [ˈblaɪ̯çə] while bleichen is [ˈblaɪ̯çn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bleiche” sits inside “bleichen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bleiche is recorded at frequency rank #38,649, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯çə]. bleichen is at rank #38,650, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈblaɪ̯çn̩].
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 77299, this pair ranks #263,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bleiche vs bleichen
Shared letters: bcehil. Private to "bleiche": -. Private to "bleichen": n.
"bleiche" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "bleichen" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bleiche" for "bleichen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "bleiche" or "bleichen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bleiche" and "bleichen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bleiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bleichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #263,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bleiche" and "bleichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bleche vs bleichen". 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 #263,980 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.