gelöschtvsgewischtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,041
“gelöscht” frequency rank
#45,317
“gewischt” frequency rank
48358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelöscht gewischt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs löschen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs wischen

Where the eye mixes gelöscht and gewischt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelöscht and gewischt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
gelöscht
8 ch
gewischt

Why the eye confuses gelöscht with gewischt

A purely visual mix-up. gelöscht ([ɡəˈlœʃt]) and gewischt ([ɡəˈvɪʃt]) 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 48358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelöscht is recorded at frequency rank #3,041, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlœʃt]. gewischt is at rank #45,317, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪʃt].

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 48358, this pair ranks #1,251,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gelöscht vs gewischt

Shared letters: ceghst. Private to "gelöscht": lö. Private to "gewischt": iw.

"gelöscht" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCC  ·  "gewischt" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewischt ← egwischt · geiwscht · gewicsht · gewisccht · gewischht · gewischtt · gewiscth · gewishct

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gelöscht" and "gewischt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈlœʃt] versus [ɡəˈvɪʃt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gelöscht" vs "gewischt" - which ranks higher?
"gelöscht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,041 in our German list, against #45,317 for "gewischt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelöscht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewischt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelöscht" and "gewischt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefischt vs gewischt". 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 #1,251,480 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