Which to use
“Wachs” is a noun and “wäscht” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,790
- “Wachs” frequency rank
- #19,778
- “wäscht” frequency rank
- 35568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Wachs | wäscht |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ester aus Fettsäuren und langkettigen Alkoholen | 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs waschen |
Where the eye mixes Wachs and wäscht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Wachs runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against wäscht's 6 (CVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Wachs with wäscht
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wachs is [vaks] while wäscht is [vɛʃt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Wachs is recorded at frequency rank #15,790, classified as anoun, pronounced [vaks]. wäscht is at rank #19,778, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɛʃt].
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 35568, this pair ranks #1,636,870 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Wachs vs wäscht
Shared letters: chsw. Private to "Wachs": a. Private to "wäscht": tä.
"Wachs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "wäscht" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Wachs ← awchs · wacchs · wachhs · wachss · wacsh · wahcs · wcahs · wwachs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Wachs" for "wäscht" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Wachs" vs "wäscht" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Wachs" and "wäscht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Wachs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wäscht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,636,870 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Wachs" and "wäscht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wachs vs Wracks". 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 #1,636,870 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.