löschvsloserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lösch is a verb, loser is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lösch” is a verb and “loser” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,332
“lösch” frequency rank
#13,889
“loser” frequency rank
34221
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lösch loser
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs löschen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs lose

Where the eye mixes lösch and loser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lösch (CVCCC) and loser (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
lösch
5 ch
loser

Look-alike desk: lösch vs loser

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lösch is [lœʃ] while loser is [ˈloːzɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lösch is recorded at frequency rank #20,332, classified as averb, pronounced [lœʃ]. loser is at rank #13,889, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈloːzɐ].

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 34221, this pair ranks #1,668,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lösch vs loser

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lösch": chö. Private to "loser": eor.

"lösch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "loser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loser ← lloser · loesr · loserr · losre · losser · lsoer · olser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lösch" for "loser" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lösch" is a verb and "loser" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lösch" vs "loser" - which ranks higher?
"loser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,889 in our German list, against #20,332 for "lösch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lösch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,668,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lösch" and "loser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lösch vs Loses". 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 #1,668,326 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