streichevsStricheTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#26,631
“streiche” frequency rank
#33,319
“Striche” frequency rank
59950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature streiche Striche
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs streichen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Strich

Where the eye mixes streiche and Striche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. streiche runs 8 letters (CCCVVCCV) against Striche's 7 (CCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
streiche
7 ch
Striche

Visual trap between streiche and Striche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: streiche is [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯çə] while Striche is [ˈʃtʁɪçə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

streiche is recorded at frequency rank #26,631, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯çə]. Striche is at rank #33,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɪçə].

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 59950, this pair ranks #805,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of streiche vs Striche

Shared letters: cehirst. Private to "streiche": -. Private to "Striche": -.

"streiche" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVCCV  ·  "Striche" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • streiche ← srteiche · sstreiche · steriche · strecihe · streicche · streiceh · streichhe · streihce
  • Striche ← srtiche · sstriche · stirche · strcihe · stricche · striceh · strichhe · strihce

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "streiche" and "Striche" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "streiche" is a verb and "Striche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "streiche" or "Striche" show up more?
"streiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,631 in our German list, against #33,319 for "Striche". 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 "streiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Striche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #805,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "streiche" and "Striche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stichen vs Striche". 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 #805,275 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