Which to use
“scharf” and “schief” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,070
- “scharf” frequency rank
- #4,302
- “schief” frequency rank
- 7372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scharf | schief |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fähig, etwas zu (zer)schneiden oder zu stechen | weder parallel zur Lotlinie, noch zur Waagerechten; nicht parallel zu einer relevanten Linie oder Ebene |
Where the eye mixes scharf and schief
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. scharf ([ʃaʁf]) and schief ([ʃiːf]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scharf is recorded at frequency rank #3,070, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃaʁf]. schief is at rank #4,302, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃiːf].
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 7372, this pair ranks #1,988,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of scharf vs schief
Shared letters: cfhs. Private to "scharf": ar. Private to "schief": ei.
"scharf" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC · "schief" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC