SchamvsScharTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,373
“Scham” frequency rank
#21,759
“Schar” frequency rank
34132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Scham Schar
Definition angstbesetztes Empfinden, das meist durch eigenes und von anderen beobachtbares Fehlverhalten ausgelöst wird, durch das man deren Achtung zu verlieren droht Gruppe von Personen oder Tieren; auch (An-)Sammlung von Dingen

Where the eye mixes Scham and Schar

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

5 ch
Scham
5 ch
Schar

Look-alike desk: Scham vs Schar

A purely visual mix-up. Scham ([ʃaːm]) and Schar ([ʃaːɐ̯]) 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 - m in “Scham” becomes r in “Schar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Scham is recorded at frequency rank #12,373, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaːm]. Schar is at rank #21,759, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃaːɐ̯].

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 34132, this pair ranks #1,670,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Scham vs Schar

Shared letters: achs. Private to "Scham": m. Private to "Schar": r.

"Scham" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "Schar" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schamcsham · scahm · sccham · schamm · schham · schma · shcam · sscham
  • Scharcshar · scahr · scchar · scharr · schhar · schra · shcar · sschar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Scham" for "Schar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃaːm] versus [ʃaːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Scham" vs "Schar" - which ranks higher?
"Scham" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,373 in our German list, against #21,759 for "Schar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Scham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,670,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Scham" and "Schar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schar vs sonar". 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 #1,670,323 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