SuchevsSuppeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#693
“Suche” frequency rank
#7,237
“Suppe” frequency rank
7930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Suche Suppe
Definition Prozess der Lokalisierung eines gewünschten Objektes; Bemühung mit dem Ziel, etwas Bestimmtes zu finden Gericht, das auf der Basis von (gebundener) Brühe oder Bouillon mit verschiedenen zerkleinerten Einlagen in einem Topf zubereitet wird; (klare) flüssige Speise, die aus Gemüse, Fleisch oder Fisch gekocht und dann meist mit Einlage serviert wird

Where the eye mixes Suche and Suppe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Suche
5 ch
Suppe

Visual trap between Suche and Suppe

A purely visual mix-up. Suche ([ˈzuːxə]) and Suppe ([ˈzʊpə]) 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 7930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Suche is recorded at frequency rank #693, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzuːxə]. Suppe is at rank #7,237, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzʊpə].

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 7930, this pair ranks #1,986,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Suche vs Suppe

Shared letters: esu. Private to "Suche": ch. Private to "Suppe": p.

"Suche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Suppe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Suchescuhe · ssuche · sucche · suceh · suchhe · suhce · usche
  • Suppespupe · ssuppe · supe · supep · usppe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Suche" for "Suppe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzuːxə] versus [ˈzʊpə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Suche" or "Suppe" show up more?
"Suche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #693 in our German list, against #7,237 for "Suppe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Suche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Suppe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,986,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Suche" and "Suppe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sümpfe vs Suppe". 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 #1,986,288 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