SeuchevssolcheConfusable pair

Quick tell: Seuche is a noun, solche is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Seuche” is a noun and “solche” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,545
“Seuche” frequency rank
#398
“solche” frequency rank
16943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seuche solche
Definition Infektionskrankheit, die in der Form einer Epidemie oder in der Form einer Pandemie bei Mensch oder Tier auftritt Nominativ Singular Femininum des Demonstrativpronomens solch

Where the eye mixes Seuche and solche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Seuche
6 ch
solche

Why the eye confuses Seuche with solche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seuche is [ˈzɔɪ̯çə] while solche is [ˈzɔlçə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16943, 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]. solche is at rank #398, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈzɔlçə].

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 16943, this pair ranks #1,931,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seuche vs solche

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "Seuche": u. Private to "solche": lo.

"Seuche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "solche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seucheesuche · secuhe · seucche · seuceh · seuchhe · seuhce · sseuche · sueche
  • solcheoslche · sloche · soclhe · solcche · solceh · solchhe · solhce · sollche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Seuche" for "solche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seuche" is a noun and "solche" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Seuche" or "solche" show up more?
"solche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #398 in our German list, against #16,545 for "Seuche". 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 "Seuche" and "solche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seuche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "solche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,931,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seuche" and "solche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seuche vs Seuchen". 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 #1,931,714 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