ZehevszeigTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#43,650
“Zehe” frequency rank
#6,028
“zeig” frequency rank
49678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Zehe zeig
Definition der einem Finger entsprechende Teil des Fußes 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs zeigen

Where the eye mixes Zehe and zeig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Zehe (CVCV) and zeig (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Zehe
4 ch
zeig

Why the eye confuses Zehe with zeig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zehe is [ˈt͡seːə] while zeig is [t͡saɪ̯k]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Zehe is recorded at frequency rank #43,650, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡seːə]. zeig is at rank #6,028, tagged as averb, pronounced [t͡saɪ̯k].

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 49678, this pair ranks #1,202,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Zehe vs zeig

Shared letters: ez. Private to "Zehe": h. Private to "zeig": gi.

"Zehe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "zeig" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Zehe ← ezhe · zeeh · zehhe · zhee · zzehe
  • zeig ← ezig · zegi · zeigg · zieg · zzeig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Zehe" and "zeig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Zehe" is a noun and "zeig" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Zehe" or "zeig"?
"zeig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,028 in our German list, against #43,650 for "Zehe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Zehe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zeig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,202,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Zehe" and "zeig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zechen vs Zehe". 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 #1,202,401 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