zachvsZecheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: zach is a adjective, Zeche is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“zach” is an adjective and “Zeche” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,855
“zach” frequency rank
#20,470
“Zeche” frequency rank
42325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zach Zeche
Definition zäh, auch übertragen für mühsam Anlage, um wertvolle Materialien aus der Erde zu gewinnen

Where the eye mixes zach and Zeche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. zach runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Zeche's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
zach
5 ch
Zeche

Look-alike desk: zach vs Zeche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zach is [t͡sax] while Zeche is [ˈt͡sɛçə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zach is recorded at frequency rank #21,855, classified as anadj, pronounced [t͡sax]. Zeche is at rank #20,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡sɛçə].

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 42325, this pair ranks #1,452,856 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zach vs Zeche

Shared letters: chz. Private to "zach": a. Private to "Zeche": e.

"zach" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Zeche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zach ← azch · zacch · zachh · zahc · zcah · zzach
  • Zeche ← ezche · zcehe · zecche · zeceh · zechhe · zehce · zzeche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zach" for "Zeche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "zach" is an adjective and "Zeche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "zach" or "Zeche" show up more?
"Zeche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,470 in our German list, against #21,855 for "zach". 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 "zach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Zeche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,452,856 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zach" and "Zeche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zach vs zapf". 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 #1,452,856 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