schadevsSphäreTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,431
“schade” frequency rank
#25,320
“Sphäre” frequency rank
26751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schade Sphäre
Definition zu bedauern, nicht erfreulich (seiend); traurig stimmend; zum Leidwesen, Schaden (seiend) Bezeichnung für Himmelskugel, Himmelsgewölbe

Where the eye mixes schade and Sphäre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
schade
6 ch
Sphäre

Look-alike desk: schade vs Sphäre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schade is [ˈʃaːdə] while Sphäre is [ˈsfɛːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26751, 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]. Sphäre is at rank #25,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsfɛːʁə].

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 26751, this pair ranks #1,813,003 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schade vs Sphäre

Shared letters: ehs. Private to "schade": acd. Private to "Sphäre": prä.

"schade" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "Sphäre" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schadecshade · scahde · scchade · schadde · schaed · schdae · schhade · shcade

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schade" and "Sphäre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schade" is an adjective and "Sphäre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "schade" vs "Sphäre" - which ranks higher?
"schade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,431 in our German list, against #25,320 for "Sphäre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sphäre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,813,003 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schade" and "Sphäre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shame vs Sphäre". 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 #1,813,003 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