Which to use
“weichen” is a verb and “weiches” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,396
- “weichen” frequency rank
- #28,477
- “weiches” frequency rank
- 32873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weichen | weiches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich entfernen, weggehen/Platz machen | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs weich |
Where the eye mixes weichen and weiches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. weichen and weiches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between weichen and weiches
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weichen is [ˈvaɪ̯çn̩] while weiches is [ˈvaɪ̯çəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “weichen” becomes s in “weiches”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weichen is recorded at frequency rank #4,396, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çn̩]. weiches is at rank #28,477, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çəs].
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 32873, this pair ranks #1,698,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of weichen vs weiches
Shared letters: cehiw. Private to "weichen": n. Private to "weiches": s.
"weichen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "weiches" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "weichen" for "weiches" ever safe?
Frequency check: "weichen" vs "weiches" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "weichen" and "weiches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "weichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weiches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,698,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weichen" and "weiches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weiches vs Weines". 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 #1,698,202 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.