SuchtvssuchteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#803
“Sucht” frequency rank
#4,739
“suchte” frequency rank
5542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sucht suchte
Definition Abhängigkeit von Substanzen oder Tätigkeiten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs suchen

Where the eye mixes Sucht and suchte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Sucht
6 ch
suchte

Look-alike desk: Sucht vs suchte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sucht is [zʊxt] while suchte is [ˈzuːxtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Sucht” sits inside “suchte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sucht is recorded at frequency rank #803, classified as anoun, pronounced [zʊxt]. suchte is at rank #4,739, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈzuːxtə].

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 5542, this pair ranks #1,994,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sucht vs suchte

Shared letters: chstu. Private to "Sucht": -. Private to "suchte": e.

"Sucht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "suchte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Suchtscuht · ssucht · succht · suchht · suchtt · sucth · suhct · uscht
  • suchtescuhte · ssuchte · succhte · suchet · suchhte · suchtte · sucthe · suhcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sucht" and "suchte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sucht" is a noun and "suchte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Sucht" or "suchte" show up more?
"Sucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #803 in our German list, against #4,739 for "suchte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suchte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,994,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sucht" and "suchte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sucht vs surft". 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 #1,994,460 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