WiedersehenvswiederzusehenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,788
“Wiedersehen” frequency rank
#31,883
“wiederzusehen” frequency rank
37671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wiedersehen wiederzusehen
Definition erneutes Treffen von Personen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs wiedersehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Wiedersehen and wiederzusehen apart are highlighted. They share 11 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
Wiedersehen
13 ch
wiederzusehen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Wiedersehen and wiederzusehen form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wiedersehen is recorded at frequency rank #5,788, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːdɐˌzeːən]. wiederzusehen is at rank #31,883, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈviːdɐt͡suˌzeːən].

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 37671, this pair ranks #1,584,081 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

Wiedersehen#5,788
wiederzusehen#31,883

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wiedersehen" and "wiederzusehen" be used interchangeably?
No, "Wiedersehen" and "wiederzusehen" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering Wiedersehen vs wiederzusehen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Wiedersehen”; for a verb, it's “wiederzusehen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Wiedersehen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list