wäschtvswashConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#19,778
“wäscht” frequency rank
#44,357
“wash” frequency rank
64135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wäscht wash
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs waschen waschen, säubern

Where the eye mixes wäscht and wash

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wäscht runs 6 letters (CVCCCC) against wash's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
wäscht
4 ch
wash

Visual trap between wäscht and wash

A purely visual mix-up. wäscht ([vɛʃt]) and wash ([wɒʃ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wäscht is recorded at frequency rank #19,778, classified as averb, pronounced [vɛʃt]. wash is at rank #44,357, tagged as averb, pronounced [wɒʃ].

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 64135, this pair ranks #652,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wäscht vs wash

Shared letters: hsw. Private to "wäscht": ctä. Private to "wash": a.

"wäscht" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC  ·  "wash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wash ← awsh · wahs · washh · wassh · wsah · wwash

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wäscht" and "wash" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([vɛʃt] versus [wɒʃ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wäscht" or "wash" show up more?
"wäscht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,778 in our German list, against #44,357 for "wash". 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 "wäscht" and "wash" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wäscht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #652,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wäscht" and "wash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wash vs waste". 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 #652,192 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