magischvsmodischWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,620
“magisch” frequency rank
#38,296
“modisch” frequency rank
56916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magisch modisch
Definition Magie beinhaltend oder verwendend sehr auf sein Äußeres achtend und dabei sich dem zeitbedingten Geschmack anpassend

Where the eye mixes magisch and modisch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. magisch and modisch follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
magisch
7 ch
modisch

Look-alike desk: magisch vs modisch

A purely visual mix-up. magisch ([ˈmaːɡɪʃ]) and modisch ([ˈmoːdɪʃ]) 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 56916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magisch is recorded at frequency rank #18,620, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmaːɡɪʃ]. modisch is at rank #38,296, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmoːdɪʃ].

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 56916, this pair ranks #921,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of magisch vs modisch

Shared letters: chims. Private to "magisch": ag. Private to "modisch": do.

"magisch" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "modisch" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magisch ← amgisch · maggisch · magicsh · magiscch · magischh · magishc · magissch · magsich
  • modisch ← mdoisch · mmodisch · moddisch · modicsh · modiscch · modischh · modishc · modissch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "magisch" for "modisch" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːɡɪʃ] versus [ˈmoːdɪʃ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "magisch" or "modisch"?
"magisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,620 in our German list, against #38,296 for "modisch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "magisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modisch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #921,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magisch" and "modisch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modisch vs modischen". 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 #921,726 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