schadevsshareConfusable pair

Quick tell: schade is a adjective, share is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schade” is an adjective and “share” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,431
“schade” frequency rank
#22,140
“share” frequency rank
23571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schade share
Definition zu bedauern, nicht erfreulich (seiend); traurig stimmend; zum Leidwesen, Schaden (seiend) teilen

Where the eye mixes schade and share

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
schade
5 ch
share

Why the eye confuses schade with share

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schade is [ˈʃaːdə] while share is [ʃɛər]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schade is recorded at frequency rank #1,431, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃaːdə]. share is at rank #22,140, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃɛər].

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 23571, this pair ranks #1,859,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schade vs share

Shared letters: aehs. Private to "schade": cd. Private to "share": r.

"schade" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "share" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schadecshade · scahde · scchade · schadde · schaed · schdae · schhade · shcade
  • sharehsare · sahre · shaer · sharre · shhare · shrae · sshare

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schade" for "share" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schade" is an adjective and "share" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schade" or "share"?
"schade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,431 in our German list, against #22,140 for "share". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "share" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,859,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schade" and "share" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "share vs Sire". 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 #1,859,508 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