SchahvsSchauWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Schah” and “Schau” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,385
“Schah” frequency rank
#976
“Schau” frequency rank
39361
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schah Schau
Definition persischer, afghanischer, nordindischer sowie osmanischer Herrschertitel thematisch organisierte öffentliche Ausstellung

Where the eye mixes Schah and Schau

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

5 ch
Schah
5 ch
Schau

Look-alike desk: Schah vs Schau

A purely visual mix-up. Schah ([ʃaː]) and Schau ([ʃaʊ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - h in “Schah” becomes u in “Schau”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39361, 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]. Schau is at rank #976, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃaʊ̯].

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 39361, this pair ranks #1,538,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schah vs Schau

Shared letters: achs. Private to "Schah": -. Private to "Schau": u.

"Schah" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "Schau" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schahcshah · scahh · scchah · schahh · schha · schhah · shcah · sschah
  • Schaucshau · scahu · scchau · schhau · schua · shcau · sschau

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schah" for "Schau" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃaː] versus [ʃaʊ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Schah" or "Schau"?
"Schau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #976 in our German list, against #38,385 for "Schah". 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 "Schah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,538,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schah" and "Schau" 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 #1,538,896 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