Zeichen
[ˈt͡saɪ̯çn̩]
The verdict
“Zeichen” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #1,148. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,148
- frequency rank, German
- 1,996
- “Z” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas sinnlich Vernehmbares, das als Hinweis für etwas dient
Corpus desk
Index DE-zeichen · Zeichen · German
Zeichen · rank #1,148 · 9 variants · 16 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,148
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,996
- PHOTO-FINISH zahlreiche
Nearest frequency peer: zahlreiche (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Zeichen”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- vorstellen
vorstellen
98,856 corpus weight
- york
york
98,855 corpus weight
- zahlreiche
zahlreiche
98,854 corpus weight
- Zeichen
Zeichen
98,853 corpus weight
- zuletzt
zuletzt
98,852 corpus weight
- absolut
absolut
98,851 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Zeichen” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | Zeichen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈt͡saɪ̯çn̩] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,148 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Zeichen” sits in German frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around Zeichen (IPA [ˈt͡saɪ̯çn̩]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,148 among 1,996 “Z” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Zeichen, with forms such as "ezichen", "zecihen", and "zeicchen". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "zeigen", "ziehen", "Zeiten", 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 spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Zeichen, spelled Z-E-I-C-H-E-N.
Definition
- 1etwas sinnlich Vernehmbares, das als Hinweis für etwas dient
- 2Gebärde, Geste oder Laut, um auf etwas aufmerksam zu machen oder hinzuweisen
- 3für etwas vereinbarte festgelegte grafische, akustische oder digitale Einheit; Symbol
- 4Andeutung, Vorzeichen für etwas Kommendes
- 5Tierkreiszeichen
- 6außergewöhnliches Geschehen, Wunder
- 7Einheit, bestehend aus einer Ausdrucksseite (Form)/(signifiant) und einer Bedeutung (Inhalt)/(signifié)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Zeichen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ich hab mir im Buch an der Stelle extra ein Zeichen mit dem Textmarker gemacht.
„Menschen, die geistig, seelisch und körperlich verbunden waren, mußten die Zeichen dieser alten Gemeinschaft in den Druckbuchstaben einer Depesche von zehn Worten zusammensuchen.“
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ezichen
- zecihen
- zeicchen
- zeicehn
- zeichenn
- zeichhen
- zeihcen
- ziechen
- zzeichen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Zeichen - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Zeichen"?
What does "Zeichen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Zeichen"?
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What language does "Zeichen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Zeichen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "Zeichen". Here's where to go from here.
- "Zeichen" maps to 16 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "zeigen". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,148 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more German words in the "Z" letter cohort. Z–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.