WeichevswichTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#9,485
“Weiche” frequency rank
#19,451
“wich” frequency rank
28936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Weiche wich
Definition weiche Beschaffenheit 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs weichen

Where the eye mixes Weiche and wich

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Weiche
4 ch
wich

Look-alike desk: Weiche vs wich

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Weiche is [ˈvaɪ̯çə] while wich is [vɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 28936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Weiche is recorded at frequency rank #9,485, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çə]. wich is at rank #19,451, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɪç].

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 28936, this pair ranks #1,775,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Weiche vs wich

Shared letters: chiw. Private to "Weiche": e. Private to "wich": -.

"Weiche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "wich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weicheewiche · wecihe · weicche · weiceh · weichhe · weihce · wieche · wweiche
  • wichiwch · wcih · wicch · wichh · wihc · wwich

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Weiche" for "wich" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Weiche" is a noun and "wich" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Weiche" vs "wich" - which ranks higher?
"Weiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,485 in our German list, against #19,451 for "wich". 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 "Weiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wich" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,775,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Weiche" and "wich" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wich vs witch". 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 #1,775,918 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