widersprechevsWidersprüchenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#31,881
“widerspreche” frequency rank
#42,265
“Widersprüchen” frequency rank
74146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature widerspreche Widersprüchen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs widersprechen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Widerspruch

Where the eye mixes widerspreche and Widersprüchen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. widerspreche runs 12 letters (CVCVCCCCVCCV) against Widersprüchen's 13 (CVCVCCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
widerspreche
13 ch
Widersprüchen

Visual trap between widerspreche and Widersprüchen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: widerspreche is [ˌviːdɐˈʃpʁɛçə] while Widersprüchen is [ˈviːdɐˌʃpʁʏçn̩]. 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 74146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

widerspreche is recorded at frequency rank #31,881, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌviːdɐˈʃpʁɛçə]. Widersprüchen is at rank #42,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːdɐˌʃpʁʏçn̩].

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 74146, this pair ranks #341,207 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of widerspreche vs Widersprüchen

Shared letters: cdehiprsw. Private to "widerspreche": -. Private to "Widersprüchen": nü.

"widerspreche" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCCCVCCV  ·  "Widersprüchen" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • widerspreche ← iwderspreche · wdierspreche · widderspreche · widerpsreche · widerrspreche · widersperche · widersppreche · widersprcehe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "widerspreche" and "Widersprüchen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "widerspreche" is a verb and "Widersprüchen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "widerspreche" or "Widersprüchen" show up more?
"widerspreche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,881 in our German list, against #42,265 for "Widersprüchen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "widerspreche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Widersprüchen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #341,207 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "widerspreche" and "Widersprüchen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Widersprüchen 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 #341,207 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