sichervssuchenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sicher is a adjective, suchen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sicher” is an adjective and “suchen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#270
“sicher” frequency rank
#574
“suchen” frequency rank
844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sicher suchen
Definition vor Gefahren geschützt sich bemühen, etwas oder jemanden zu finden, das oder der verloren oder versteckt ist

Where the eye mixes sicher and suchen

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

6 ch
sicher
6 ch
suchen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sicher is [ˈzɪçɐ] while suchen is [ˈzuːxn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sicher is recorded at frequency rank #270, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɪçɐ]. suchen is at rank #574, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzuːxn̩].

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 844, this pair ranks #2,005,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sicher vs suchen

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "sicher": ir. Private to "suchen": nu.

"sicher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "suchen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sicherischer · sciher · siccher · sicehr · sicherr · sichher · sichre · sihcer
  • suchenscuhen · ssuchen · succhen · sucehn · suchenn · suchhen · suchne · suhcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sicher" and "suchen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sicher" is an adjective and "suchen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sicher" or "suchen"?
"sicher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #270 in our German list, against #574 for "suchen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "sicher" and "suchen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sicher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suchen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sicher" and "suchen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs suchen". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list