gleichevsglichenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,059
“gleiche” frequency rank
#36,369
“glichen” frequency rank
37428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gleiche glichen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gleichen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gleichen

Where the eye mixes gleiche and glichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gleiche (CCVVCCV) and glichen (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
gleiche
7 ch
glichen

Visual trap between gleiche and glichen

A purely visual mix-up. gleiche ([ˈɡlaɪ̯çə]) and glichen ([ˈɡlɪçn̩]) 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 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gleiche is recorded at frequency rank #1,059, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡlaɪ̯çə]. glichen is at rank #36,369, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡlɪçn̩].

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 37428, this pair ranks #1,590,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gleiche vs glichen

Shared letters: ceghil. Private to "gleiche": -. Private to "glichen": n.

"gleiche" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV  ·  "glichen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gleiche ← geliche · ggleiche · glecihe · gleicche · gleiceh · gleichhe · gleihce · glieche
  • glichen ← gglichen · gilchen · glcihen · glicchen · glicehn · glichenn · glichhen · glichne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gleiche" for "glichen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡlaɪ̯çə] versus [ˈɡlɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gleiche" vs "glichen" - which ranks higher?
"gleiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,059 in our German list, against #36,369 for "glichen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gleiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "glichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gleiche" and "glichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewichen vs glichen". 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 #1,590,507 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