Which to use
“sale” is a noun and “shame” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,472
- “sale” frequency rank
- #43,491
- “shame” frequency rank
- 56963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sale | shame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Transaktion Ware gegen Geld: Verkauf | jemanden beschämen |
Letter map: sale vs shame
Shared letters muted; letters that set sale and shame apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. sale runs 4 letters (CVCV) against shame's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: sale vs shame
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sale is anoun and shameaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sale is recorded at frequency rank #13,472, classified as anoun, pronounced [seɪl]. shame is at rank #43,491, tagged as averb, pronounced […].
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 56963, this pair ranks #919,917 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sale vs shame
Shared letters: aes. Private to "sale": l. Private to "shame": hm.
"sale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sale" and "shame" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "sale" or "shame" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "sale" and "shame". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #919,917 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sale" and "shame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shame". 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 #919,917 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.