Which to use
“zähe” is an adjective and “Zehe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,398
- “zähe” frequency rank
- #43,650
- “Zehe” frequency rank
- 88048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | zähe | Zehe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zäh | der einem Finger entsprechende Teil des Fußes |
Where the eye mixes zähe and Zehe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. zähe and Zehe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: zähe vs Zehe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zähe is [ˈt͡sɛːə] while Zehe is [ˈt͡seːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - ä in “zähe” becomes e in “Zehe”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
zähe is recorded at frequency rank #44,398, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡sɛːə]. Zehe is at rank #43,650, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡seːə].
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 88048, this pair ranks #72,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of zähe vs Zehe
Shared letters: ehz. Private to "zähe": ä. Private to "Zehe": -.
"zähe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Zehe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Zehe ← ezhe · zeeh · zehhe · zhee · zzehe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "zähe" and "Zehe" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "zähe" or "Zehe"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "zähe" and "Zehe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "zähe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Zehe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "zähe" and "Zehe" 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 #72,952 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.