SpeichenvsStrichenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,009
“Speichen” frequency rank
#40,866
“Strichen” frequency rank
87875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Speichen Strichen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Speiche Dativ Plural des Substantivs Strich

Where the eye mixes Speichen and Strichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
Speichen
8 ch
Strichen

Look-alike desk: Speichen vs Strichen

A purely visual mix-up. Speichen ([ˈʃpaɪ̯çn̩]) and Strichen ([ˈʃtʁɪçn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Speichen is recorded at frequency rank #47,009, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpaɪ̯çn̩]. Strichen is at rank #40,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɪçn̩].

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 87875, this pair ranks #74,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Speichen vs Strichen

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "Speichen": p. Private to "Strichen": rt.

"Speichen" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC  ·  "Strichen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Speichenpseichen · sepichen · specihen · speicchen · speicehn · speichenn · speichhen · speichne
  • Strichensrtichen · sstrichen · stirchen · strcihen · stricchen · stricehn · strichenn · strichhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Speichen" and "Strichen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpaɪ̯çn̩] versus [ˈʃtʁɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Speichen" vs "Strichen" - which ranks higher?
"Strichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,866 in our German list, against #47,009 for "Speichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Speichen" and "Strichen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Speichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Strichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Speichen" and "Strichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Speichen vs Stichen". 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 #74,991 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