wichvswitchTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#19,451
“wich” frequency rank
#47,136
“witch” frequency rank
66587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wich witch
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs weichen Hexe

Where the eye mixes wich and witch

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

4 ch
wich
5 ch
witch

Visual trap between wich and witch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wich is [vɪç] while witch is [wɪt͡ʃ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wich is recorded at frequency rank #19,451, classified as averb, pronounced [vɪç]. witch is at rank #47,136, tagged as anoun, pronounced [wɪt͡ʃ].

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 66587, this pair ranks #568,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wich vs witch

Shared letters: chiw. Private to "wich": -. Private to "witch": t.

"wich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "witch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wichiwch · wcih · wicch · wichh · wihc · wwich
  • witchiwtch · witcch · witchh · withc · wittch · wtich · wwitch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wich" for "witch" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wich" is a verb and "witch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wich" or "witch"?
"wich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,451 in our German list, against #47,136 for "witch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "witch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #568,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wich" and "witch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wit 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 #568,185 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