FischvsfishWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,654
“Fisch” frequency rank
#18,543
“fish” frequency rank
22197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fisch fish
Definition Tier, das unter Wasser lebt und durch Kiemen atmet Fisch

Same sound, different letters: Fisch vs fish

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
Fisch
4 ch
fish

Ear matches; page differs - Fisch and fish

This is the hard kind. Fisch and fish are pronounced identically ([fɪʃ]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fisch is recorded at frequency rank #3,654, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɪʃ]. fish is at rank #18,543, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɪʃ].

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 22197, this pair ranks #1,877,104 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fisch vs fish

Shared letters: fhis. Private to "Fisch": c. Private to "fish": -.

"Fisch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "fish" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fischffisch · ficsh · fiscch · fischh · fishc · fissch · fsich · ifsch
  • fishffish · fihs · fishh · fissh · fsih · ifsh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fisch" and "fish" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same ([fɪʃ]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "Fisch" vs "fish" - which ranks higher?
"Fisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,654 in our German list, against #18,543 for "fish". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fish" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,877,104 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fisch" and "fish" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fish vs fist". 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 #1,877,104 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