SchahvsschämeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#38,385
“Schah” frequency rank
#14,170
“schäme” frequency rank
52555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schah schäme
Definition persischer, afghanischer, nordindischer sowie osmanischer Herrschertitel 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schämen

Where the eye mixes Schah and schäme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Schah runs 5 letters (CCCVC) against schäme's 6 (CCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Schah
6 ch
schäme

Why the eye confuses Schah with schäme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schah is [ʃaː] while schäme is [ˈʃɛːmə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schah is recorded at frequency rank #38,385, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaː]. schäme is at rank #14,170, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃɛːmə].

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 52555, this pair ranks #1,092,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schah vs schäme

Shared letters: chs. Private to "Schah": a. Private to "schäme": emä.

"Schah" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "schäme" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schah ← cshah · scahh · scchah · schahh · schha · schhah · shcah · sschah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schah" and "schäme" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schah" is a noun and "schäme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schah" or "schäme" show up more?
"schäme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,170 in our German list, against #38,385 for "Schah". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Schah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schäme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,092,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schah" and "schäme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schah vs Schalk". 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 #1,092,191 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