schwachvsschwachemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,073
“schwach” frequency rank
#44,903
“schwachem” frequency rank
47976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schwach schwachem
Definition ohne Kraft Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schwach

Where the eye mixes schwach and schwachem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. schwach runs 7 letters (CCCCVCC) against schwachem's 9 (CCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
schwach
9 ch
schwachem

Look-alike desk: schwach vs schwachem

A purely visual mix-up. schwach ([ʃvax]) and schwachem ([ˈʃvaxm̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “schwach” sits inside “schwachem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schwach is recorded at frequency rank #3,073, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃvax]. schwachem is at rank #44,903, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃvaxm̩].

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 47976, this pair ranks #1,265,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schwach vs schwachem

Shared letters: achsw. Private to "schwach": -. Private to "schwachem": em.

"schwach" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCC  ·  "schwachem" · 9 letters · shape CCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schwach ← cshwach · scchwach · schawch · schhwach · schwacch · schwachh · schwahc · schwcah
  • schwachem ← cshwachem · scchwachem · schawchem · schhwachem · schwacchem · schwacehm · schwachemm · schwachhem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schwach" and "schwachem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʃvax] versus [ˈʃvaxm̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schwach" or "schwachem"?
"schwach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,073 in our German list, against #44,903 for "schwachem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schwach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwachem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,265,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schwach" and "schwachem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwachem vs schwächt". 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 #1,265,257 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