ach
[ax]
The verdict
“ach” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #612 in German word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #612
- frequency rank, German
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - (kurz, ansteigend) drückt Verwunderung aus
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ach |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | [ax] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #612 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ach” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for ach is 3 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ax]. Corpus data places it at rank #612 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ach, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "an", "am", "AG", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is ach, spelled A-C-H.
Definition
- 1(kurz, ansteigend) drückt Verwunderung aus
- 2(langgezogen, stöhnend) drückt Leiden aus
- 3(langgezogen, ansteigend) drückt Aufmerksamkeit oder Interesse aus
- 4(kurzab, wegwerfend) Belanglosigkeit oder Desinteresse aus
- 5(hochtonig, abgerissen) drückt Fassungslosigkeit aus
- 6verstärkt ein darauf folgendes Wort
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ach”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is A-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ax] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “an” - see the side-by-side comparison. ach vs an
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.