nachsehenvsnachziehenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#14,370
“nachsehen” frequency rank
#37,697
“nachziehen” frequency rank
52067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nachsehen nachziehen
Definition nach Information suchen, eine Recherche durchführen, etwas verifizieren noch einmal einen Strich an gleicher Stelle machen/ziehen

Where the eye mixes nachsehen and nachziehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. nachsehen runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against nachziehen's 10 (CVCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
nachsehen
10 ch
nachziehen

Visual trap between nachsehen and nachziehen

A purely visual mix-up. nachsehen ([ˈnaːxˌzeːən]) and nachziehen ([ˈnaːxˌt͡siːən]) 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 52067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nachsehen is recorded at frequency rank #14,370, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnaːxˌzeːən]. nachziehen is at rank #37,697, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnaːxˌt͡siːən].

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 52067, this pair ranks #1,111,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nachsehen vs nachziehen

Shared letters: acehn. Private to "nachsehen": s. Private to "nachziehen": iz.

"nachsehen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "nachziehen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nachsehen ← anchsehen · nacchsehen · nacheshen · nachhsehen · nachseehn · nachsehenn · nachsehhen · nachsehne
  • nachziehen ← anchziehen · nacchziehen · nachhziehen · nachizehen · nachzeihen · nachzieehn · nachziehenn · nachziehhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nachsehen" for "nachziehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnaːxˌzeːən] versus [ˈnaːxˌt͡siːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "nachsehen" or "nachziehen" show up more?
"nachsehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,370 in our German list, against #37,697 for "nachziehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nachsehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nachziehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,111,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nachsehen" and "nachziehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nachziehen vs nachzusehen". 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 #1,111,215 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