Which to use
“Schafe” is a noun and “scheue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,390
- “Schafe” frequency rank
- #42,110
- “scheue” frequency rank
- 49500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Schafe | scheue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Schaf | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs scheu |
Where the eye mixes Schafe and scheue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Schafe with scheue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schafe is [ˈʃaːfə] while scheue is [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Schafe is recorded at frequency rank #7,390, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃaːfə]. scheue is at rank #42,110, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə].
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 49500, this pair ranks #1,209,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Schafe vs scheue
Shared letters: cehs. Private to "Schafe": af. Private to "scheue": u.
"Schafe" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "scheue" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Schafe" and "scheue" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Schafe" vs "scheue" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Schafe" and "scheue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Schafe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "scheue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,209,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Schafe" and "scheue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheue vs schiere". 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 #1,209,185 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.