dichvsdiesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dich” and “dies” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#124
“dich” frequency rank
#219
“dies” frequency rank
343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dich dies
Definition Akkusativ der zweiten Person Singular adverbialer Gebrauch, um ein ganz bestimmtes, nahe liegendes Nomen hervorzuheben

Where the eye mixes dich and dies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dich
4 ch
dies

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dich ([dɪç]) and dies ([diːs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dich is recorded at frequency rank #124, classified as apron, pronounced [dɪç]. dies is at rank #219, tagged as apron, pronounced [diːs].

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 343, this pair ranks #2,005,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dich vs dies

Shared letters: di. Private to "dich": ch. Private to "dies": es.

"dich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dichdcih · ddich · dicch · dichh · dihc · idch
  • diesddies · deis · diess · dise · ides

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dich" and "dies" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɪç] versus [diːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dich" or "dies"?
"dich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #124 in our German list, against #219 for "dies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "dich" and "dies". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dich" and "dies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dich 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list