Which to use
“weiches” is an adjective and “weihen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,477
- “weiches” frequency rank
- #36,119
- “weihen” frequency rank
- 64596
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weiches | weihen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs weich | eine Person durch besondere religiöse Handlungen in ein Amt einführen |
Where the eye mixes weiches and weihen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. weiches runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against weihen's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: weiches vs weihen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weiches is [ˈvaɪ̯çəs] while weihen is [ˈvaɪ̯ən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weiches is recorded at frequency rank #28,477, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çəs]. weihen is at rank #36,119, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ən].
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 64596, this pair ranks #635,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of weiches vs weihen
Shared letters: ehiw. Private to "weiches": cs. Private to "weihen": n.
"weiches" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "weihen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "weiches" for "weihen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "weiches" vs "weihen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "weiches" and "weihen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "weiches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weihen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #635,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weiches" and "weihen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weihen vs weilen". 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 #635,894 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.