sich
[zɪç]
The verdict
“sich” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #20 in German word frequency and used as a pronoun.
- #20
- frequency rank, German
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Reflexivpronomen der dritten Person Singular
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 | sich |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Pronoun |
| IPA | [zɪç] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sich” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for sich is 4 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [zɪç]. Corpus data places it at rank #20 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for sich, with forms such as "isch", "scih", and "sicch". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sie", "Sir", "sin", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is sich, spelled S-I-C-H.
Definition
- 1Reflexivpronomen der dritten Person Singular
- 2Reflexivpronomen der dritten Person Plural
- 3den jeweils anderen aus derselben Gruppe
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: isch,scih,sicch,sichh,sihc,ssich
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sich - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “sich”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-I-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [zɪç] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sie” - see the side-by-side comparison. sich vs sie
- 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.