Which to use
“Zeichen” is a noun and “zeichne” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,148
- “Zeichen” frequency rank
- #24,209
- “zeichne” frequency rank
- 25357
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Zeichen | zeichne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas sinnlich Vernehmbares, das als Hinweis für etwas dient | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs zeichnen |
Where the eye mixes Zeichen and zeichne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Zeichen (CVVCCVC) and zeichne (CVVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between Zeichen and zeichne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zeichen is [ˈt͡saɪ̯çn̩] while zeichne is [ˈt͡saɪ̯çnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (en ↔ ne) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Zeichen is recorded at frequency rank #1,148, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡saɪ̯çn̩]. zeichne is at rank #24,209, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡saɪ̯çnə].
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 25357, this pair ranks #1,834,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Zeichen vs zeichne
Shared letters: cehinz. Private to "Zeichen": -. Private to "zeichne": -.
"Zeichen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "zeichne" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Zeichen" and "zeichne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Zeichen" or "zeichne"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Zeichen" and "zeichne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Zeichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zeichne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,834,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Zeichen" and "zeichne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Zeichens vs zeichne". 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 #1,834,540 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.