StrichenvsstrittenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#40,866
“Strichen” frequency rank
#32,789
“stritten” frequency rank
73655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Strichen stritten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Strich 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs streiten

Where the eye mixes Strichen and stritten

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

8 ch
Strichen
8 ch
stritten

Look-alike desk: Strichen vs stritten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Strichen is [ˈʃtʁɪçn̩] while stritten is [ˈʃtʁɪtn̩]. 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 73655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Strichen is recorded at frequency rank #40,866, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɪçn̩]. stritten is at rank #32,789, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtʁɪtn̩].

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 73655, this pair ranks #354,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Strichen vs stritten

Shared letters: einrst. Private to "Strichen": ch. Private to "stritten": -.

"Strichen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "stritten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Strichensrtichen · sstrichen · stirchen · strcihen · stricchen · stricehn · strichenn · strichhen
  • strittensrtitten · sstritten · stirtten · striten · stritetn · strittenn · strittne · strritten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Strichen" and "stritten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Strichen" is a noun and "stritten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Strichen" vs "stritten" - which ranks higher?
"stritten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,789 in our German list, against #40,866 for "Strichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Strichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stritten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #354,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Strichen" and "stritten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Strichen vs strippen". 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 #354,435 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