SeuchevsSeuchenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,545
“Seuche” frequency rank
#35,445
“Seuchen” frequency rank
51990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seuche Seuchen
Definition Infektionskrankheit, die in der Form einer Epidemie oder in der Form einer Pandemie bei Mensch oder Tier auftritt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Seuche

Where the eye mixes Seuche and Seuchen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Seuche runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against Seuchen's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Seuche
7 ch
Seuchen

Visual trap between Seuche and Seuchen

A purely visual mix-up. Seuche ([ˈzɔɪ̯çə]) and Seuchen ([ˈzɔɪ̯çn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Seuche” sits inside “Seuchen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seuche is recorded at frequency rank #16,545, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯çə]. Seuchen is at rank #35,445, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯çn̩].

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 51990, this pair ranks #1,114,153 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Seuche vs Seuchen

Shared letters: cehsu. Private to "Seuche": -. Private to "Seuchen": n.

"Seuche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "Seuchen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seuche ← esuche · secuhe · seucche · seuceh · seuchhe · seuhce · sseuche · sueche
  • Seuchen ← esuchen · secuhen · seucchen · seucehn · seuchenn · seuchhen · seuchne · seuhcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Seuche" and "Seuchen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɔɪ̯çə] versus [ˈzɔɪ̯çn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Seuche" or "Seuchen" show up more?
"Seuche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,545 in our German list, against #35,445 for "Seuchen". 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 "Seuche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Seuchen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,114,153 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seuche" and "Seuchen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seuchen vs Speichen". 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 #1,114,153 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