SchattenvsschüttenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#2,612
“Schatten” frequency rank
#30,759
“schütten” frequency rank
33371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schatten schütten
Definition ein nicht direkt beleuchteter Bereich etwas durch starkes Kippen aus einem Gefäß entfernen

Where the eye mixes Schatten and schütten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Schatten and schütten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Schatten
8 ch
schütten

Visual trap between Schatten and schütten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schatten is [ˈʃatn̩] while schütten is [ˈʃʏtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Schatten” becomes ü in “schütten”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schatten is recorded at frequency rank #2,612, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃatn̩]. schütten is at rank #30,759, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʏtn̩].

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 33371, this pair ranks #1,687,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schatten vs schütten

Shared letters: cehnst. Private to "Schatten": a. Private to "schütten": ü.

"Schatten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "schütten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schatten ← cshatten · scahtten · scchatten · schaten · schatetn · schattenn · schattne · schhatten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schatten" and "schütten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schatten" is a noun and "schütten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schatten" or "schütten" show up more?
"Schatten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,612 in our German list, against #30,759 for "schütten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schatten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schütten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,687,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schatten" and "schütten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs schütten". 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 #1,687,409 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