DeichvsduschTell them apart

Quick tell: Deich is a noun, dusch is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Deich” is a noun and “dusch” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,361
“Deich” frequency rank
#49,599
“dusch” frequency rank
75960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Deich dusch
Definition Damm an Gewässern (wie beispielsweise Flüssen, den Küsten) zum Schutz vor Hochwasser und Sturmfluten 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs duschen

Where the eye mixes Deich and dusch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Deich
5 ch
dusch

Why the eye confuses Deich with dusch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Deich is [daɪ̯ç] while dusch is [duːʃ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Deich is recorded at frequency rank #26,361, classified as anoun, pronounced [daɪ̯ç]. dusch is at rank #49,599, tagged as averb, pronounced [duːʃ].

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 75960, this pair ranks #295,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Deich vs dusch

Shared letters: cdh. Private to "Deich": ei. Private to "dusch": su.

"Deich" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "dusch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Deichddeich · decih · deicch · deichh · deihc · diech · edich
  • duschddusch · dsuch · ducsh · duscch · duschh · dushc · dussch · udsch

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Deich" and "dusch" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Deich" is a noun and "dusch" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Deich" or "dusch"?
"Deich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,361 in our German list, against #49,599 for "dusch". 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 "Deich" and "dusch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Deich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dusch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Deich" and "dusch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duch vs dusch". 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 #295,130 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