widersprachvsWiderspruchWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#23,375
“widersprach” frequency rank
#4,086
“Widerspruch” frequency rank
27461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature widersprach Widerspruch
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs widersprechen logische Unvereinbarkeit mehrerer gegensätzlicher Informationen

Where the eye mixes widersprach and Widerspruch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. widersprach and Widerspruch follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
widersprach
11 ch
Widerspruch

Visual trap between widersprach and Widerspruch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: widersprach is [ˌviːdɐˈʃpʁaːx] while Widerspruch is [ˈviːdɐˌʃpʁʊx]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “widersprach” becomes u in “Widerspruch”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

widersprach is recorded at frequency rank #23,375, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌviːdɐˈʃpʁaːx]. Widerspruch is at rank #4,086, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːdɐˌʃpʁʊx].

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 27461, this pair ranks #1,801,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of widersprach vs Widerspruch

Shared letters: cdehiprsw. Private to "widersprach": a. Private to "Widerspruch": u.

"widersprach" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCCCVCC  ·  "Widerspruch" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • widersprach ← iwdersprach · wdiersprach · widdersprach · widerpsrach · widerrsprach · widersparch · widerspprach · widerspracch
  • Widerspruch ← iwderspruch · wdierspruch · widderspruch · widerpsruch · widerrspruch · widersppruch · widersprcuh · widersprruch

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "widersprach" and "Widerspruch" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "widersprach" is a verb and "Widerspruch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "widersprach" vs "Widerspruch" - which ranks higher?
"Widerspruch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,086 in our German list, against #23,375 for "widersprach". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "widersprach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Widerspruch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,801,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "widersprach" and "Widerspruch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "widersprach vs Widerspruchs". 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 #1,801,443 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