SeuchenvsspuckenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Seuchen is a noun, spucken is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Seuchen” is a noun and “spucken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,445
“Seuchen” frequency rank
#21,074
“spucken” frequency rank
56519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Seuchen spucken
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Seuche Speichel heftig aus dem Mund schleudern

Where the eye mixes Seuchen and spucken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Seuchen (CVVCCVC) and spucken (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Seuchen
7 ch
spucken

Look-alike desk: Seuchen vs spucken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seuchen is [ˈzɔɪ̯çn̩] while spucken is [ˈʃpʊkn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seuchen is recorded at frequency rank #35,445, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯çn̩]. spucken is at rank #21,074, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpʊkn̩].

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 56519, this pair ranks #937,042 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Seuchen vs spucken

Shared letters: censu. Private to "Seuchen": h. Private to "spucken": kp.

"Seuchen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "spucken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Seuchen ← esuchen · secuhen · seucchen · seucehn · seuchenn · seuchhen · seuchne · seuhcen
  • spucken ← psucken · spcuken · sppucken · spuccken · spucekn · spuckenn · spuckken · spuckne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Seuchen" and "spucken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seuchen" is a noun and "spucken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Seuchen" or "spucken" show up more?
"spucken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,074 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Seuchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spucken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #937,042 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Seuchen" and "spucken" 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 #937,042 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