WichtvsWischTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,950
“Wicht” frequency rank
#27,137
“Wisch” frequency rank
70087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wicht Wisch
Definition kleine Sagengestalt, die gute Dinge verrichtet Schriftstück, das als wertlos betrachtet wird, häufig von Behörden und offiziellen Stellen

Where the eye mixes Wicht and Wisch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Wicht and Wisch follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Wicht
5 ch
Wisch

Why the eye confuses Wicht with Wisch

A purely visual mix-up. Wicht ([vɪçt]) and Wisch ([vɪʃ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wicht is recorded at frequency rank #42,950, classified as anoun, pronounced [vɪçt]. Wisch is at rank #27,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɪʃ].

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 70087, this pair ranks #456,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Wicht vs Wisch

Shared letters: chiw. Private to "Wicht": t. Private to "Wisch": s.

"Wicht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Wisch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wicht ← iwcht · wciht · wiccht · wichht · wichtt · wicth · wihct · wwicht
  • Wisch ← iwsch · wicsh · wiscch · wischh · wishc · wissch · wsich · wwisch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wicht" for "Wisch" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vɪçt] versus [vɪʃ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Wicht" or "Wisch" show up more?
"Wisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,137 in our German list, against #42,950 for "Wicht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Wicht" and "Wisch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wicht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wisch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #456,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wicht" and "Wisch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wicht 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 #456,837 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