ziehenvszuziehenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ziehen” and “zuziehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#771
“ziehen” frequency rank
#43,660
“zuziehen” frequency rank
44431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ziehen zuziehen
Definition mit Anwendung von Kraft hinter sich her oder auf sich zu bewegen etwas Bewegliches so auf der Halterung/Schiene bewegen (ziehen), dass sich eine geschlossene Fläche ergibt

Where the eye mixes ziehen and zuziehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ziehen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against zuziehen's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ziehen
8 ch
zuziehen

Look-alike desk: ziehen vs zuziehen

A purely visual mix-up. ziehen ([ˈt͡siːən]) and zuziehen ([ˈt͡suːˌt͡siːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ziehen” sits inside “zuziehen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ziehen is recorded at frequency rank #771, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡siːən]. zuziehen is at rank #43,660, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡suːˌt͡siːən].

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 44431, this pair ranks #1,386,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ziehen vs zuziehen

Shared letters: ehinz. Private to "ziehen": -. Private to "zuziehen": u.

"ziehen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "zuziehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ziehenizehen · zeihen · zieehn · ziehenn · ziehhen · ziehne · ziheen · zziehen
  • zuziehenuzziehen · zuizehen · zuzeihen · zuzieehn · zuziehenn · zuziehhen · zuziehne · zuziheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ziehen" and "zuziehen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡siːən] versus [ˈt͡suːˌt͡siːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ziehen" or "zuziehen"?
"ziehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #771 in our German list, against #43,660 for "zuziehen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ziehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zuziehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,386,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ziehen" and "zuziehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zustehen vs zuziehen". 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 #1,386,422 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