schaffevsSchaleWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: schaffe is a verb, Schale is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schaffe” is a verb and “Schale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,232
“schaffe” frequency rank
#8,451
“Schale” frequency rank
14683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schaffe Schale
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schaffen eine feste Schutzhülle, zum Beispiel bei Früchten, Samen, Vogeleiern, Lebensmitteln

Where the eye mixes schaffe and Schale

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
schaffe
6 ch
Schale

Visual trap between schaffe and Schale

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schaffe is [ˈʃafə] while Schale is [ˈʃaːlə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schaffe is recorded at frequency rank #6,232, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃafə]. Schale is at rank #8,451, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃaːlə].

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 14683, this pair ranks #1,949,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schaffe vs Schale

Shared letters: acehs. Private to "schaffe": f. Private to "Schale": l.

"schaffe" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "Schale" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schaffecshaffe · scahffe · scchaffe · schafef · schfafe · schhaffe · shcaffe · sschaffe
  • Schalecshale · scahle · scchale · schael · schalle · schhale · schlae · shcale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schaffe" and "Schale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schaffe" is a verb and "Schale" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schaffe" or "Schale" show up more?
"schaffe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,232 in our German list, against #8,451 for "Schale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "schaffe" and "Schale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schaffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schaffe" and "Schale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schale vs Schnalle". 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 #1,949,485 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