zackvszäheTell them apart

Quick tell: zack is a intj, zähe is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“zack” is an intj and “zähe” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,309
“zack” frequency rank
#44,398
“zähe” frequency rank
52707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zack zähe
Definition drückt aus, dass etwas ganz plötzlich geschieht oder zu geschehen hat Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zäh

Where the eye mixes zack and zähe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
zack
4 ch
zähe

Look-alike desk: zack vs zähe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zack is [t͡sak] while zähe is [ˈt͡sɛːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zack is recorded at frequency rank #8,309, classified as anintj, pronounced [t͡sak]. zähe is at rank #44,398, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡sɛːə].

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 52707, this pair ranks #1,086,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zack vs zähe

Shared letters: z. Private to "zack": ack. Private to "zähe": ehä.

"zack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "zähe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zackazck · zacck · zackk · zakc · zcak · zzack

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "zack" and "zähe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "zack" is an intj and "zähe" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "zack" or "zähe" show up more?
"zack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,309 in our German list, against #44,398 for "zähe". 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 "zack" and "zähe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "zack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zähe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,086,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zack" and "zähe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zähe 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 #1,086,401 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