SachervsscheuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Sacher is a name, scheu is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sacher” is a name and “scheu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,952
“Sacher” frequency rank
#15,198
“scheu” frequency rank
62150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sacher scheu
Definition deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname aus Angst, Unbehagen oder Scham zurückhaltend und soziale Kontakte vermeidend

Letter map: Sacher vs scheu

Shared letters muted; letters that set Sacher and scheu apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Sacher
5 ch
scheu

Grammar separator: Sacher vs scheu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Sacher is aname and scheuanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sacher is recorded at frequency rank #46,952, classified as aname, pronounced […]. scheu is at rank #15,198, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃɔɪ̯].

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 62150, this pair ranks #723,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sacher vs scheu

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "Sacher": ar. Private to "scheu": u.

"Sacher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "scheu" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sacherascher · saccher · sacehr · sacherr · sachher · sachre · sahcer · scaher
  • scheucsheu · sccheu · scehu · schheu · schue · shceu · sscheu

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sacher" and "scheu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sacher" is a name and "scheu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Sacher" or "scheu" show up more?
"scheu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,198 in our German list, against #46,952 for "Sacher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Sacher" vs "scheu" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sacher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "scheu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #723,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sacher" and "scheu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Sacher". 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 #723,365 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