ICQ
[ˌaɪsiːˈkɪ̯uː]
The verdict
“ICQ” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #48,240) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #48,240
- frequency rank, German
- 1,488
- “I” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein Instant-Messenger-Dienst
Corpus desk
Index DE-icq · ICQ · German
ICQ · rank #48,240 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #48,240
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,488
- PHOTO-FINISH höh
Nearest frequency peer: höh (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „ICQ“
Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten
- hygienisch
hygienisch
51,764 corpus weight
- Häuten
Häuten
51,763 corpus weight
- höh
höh
51,762 corpus weight
- ICQ
ICQ
51,761 corpus weight
- Idealisten
Idealisten
51,760 corpus weight
- IGS
IGS
51,758 corpus weight
What this shows Balken platzieren „ICQ“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.
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 | ICQ |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Abbreviation |
| IPA | [ˌaɪsiːˈkɪ̯uː] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #48,240 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „ICQ“
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for ICQ is neighbouring look-alikes ("im", "is", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation pronounced [ˌaɪsiːˈkɪ̯uː]. Frequency #48,240 among 1,488 “I” headwords. Gloss: "ein Instant-Messenger-Dienst".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ICQ, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "im", "is", "ii", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is ICQ, spelled I-C-Q.
Definition
- 1ein Instant-Messenger-Dienst
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ICQ appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Nach den Nutzungsbestimmungen von ICQ darf der Betreiber alle Nachrichten lesen und auf jede andere Weise weiterverbreiten.
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
How do you spell "ICQ"?
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Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ICQ", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).