WachevswaleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,485
“Wache” frequency rank
#23,369
“wale” frequency rank
31854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wache wale
Definition Beobachtung von jemandem oder etwas zwecks Kontrolle oder zur Erhöhung der Sicherheit Rippe, Salleiste, feste Webkante

Letter map: Wache vs wale

Shared letters muted; letters that set Wache and wale apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
Wache
4 ch
wale

Corpus notes: Wache and wale

Wache and wale are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wache is recorded at frequency rank #8,485, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaxə]. wale is at rank #23,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 31854, this pair ranks #1,719,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wache vs wale

Shared letters: aew. Private to "Wache": ch. Private to "wale": l.

"Wache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wacheawche · wacche · waceh · wachhe · wahce · wcahe · wwache
  • waleawle · wael · walle · wlae · wwale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Wache" and "wale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Wache" vs "wale" - which ranks higher?
"Wache" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,485 in our German list, against #23,369 for "wale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Wache" and "wale". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,719,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wache" and "wale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs wale". 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 #1,719,687 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