scratchvssprachTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,485
“scratch” frequency rank
#1,460
“sprach” frequency rank
44945
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scratch sprach
Definition kratzen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs sprechen

Letter map: scratch vs sprach

Shared letters muted; letters that set scratch and sprach apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
scratch
6 ch
sprach

Corpus notes: scratch and sprach

scratch and sprach are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scratch is recorded at frequency rank #43,485, classified as averb, pronounced […]. sprach is at rank #1,460, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpʁaːx].

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 44945, this pair ranks #1,369,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scratch vs sprach

Shared letters: achrs. Private to "scratch": t. Private to "sprach": p.

"scratch" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCC  ·  "sprach" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scratchcsratch · scartch · sccratch · scracth · scratcch · scratchh · scrathc · scrattch
  • sprachpsrach · sparch · spprach · spracch · sprachh · sprahc · sprcah · sprrach

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "scratch" and "sprach" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "scratch" or "sprach" show up more?
"sprach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,460 in our German list, against #43,485 for "scratch". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "scratch" vs "sprach" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scratch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sprach" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,369,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scratch" and "sprach" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs scratch". 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 #1,369,494 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