gewaschenvsgewichenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,730
“gewaschen” frequency rank
#39,391
“gewichen” frequency rank
49121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewaschen gewichen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs waschen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs weichen

Where the eye mixes gewaschen and gewichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
gewaschen
8 ch
gewichen

Look-alike desk: gewaschen vs gewichen

A purely visual mix-up. gewaschen ([ɡəˈvaʃn̩]) and gewichen ([ɡəˈvɪçn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewaschen is recorded at frequency rank #9,730, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvaʃn̩]. gewichen is at rank #39,391, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪçn̩].

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 49121, this pair ranks #1,223,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gewaschen vs gewichen

Shared letters: ceghnw. Private to "gewaschen": as. Private to "gewichen": i.

"gewaschen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gewichen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewaschenegwaschen · geawschen · gewascchen · gewascehn · gewaschenn · gewaschhen · gewaschne · gewashcen
  • gewichenegwichen · geiwchen · gewcihen · gewicchen · gewicehn · gewichenn · gewichhen · gewichne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewaschen" for "gewichen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvaʃn̩] versus [ɡəˈvɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gewaschen" vs "gewichen" - which ranks higher?
"gewaschen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,730 in our German list, against #39,391 for "gewichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "gewaschen" and "gewichen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gewaschen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,223,378 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewaschen" and "gewichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewichen vs gewiesen". 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 #1,223,378 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