SchauvsscheueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Schau is a noun, scheue is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Schau” is a noun and “scheue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#976
“Schau” frequency rank
#42,110
“scheue” frequency rank
43086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schau scheue
Definition thematisch organisierte öffentliche Ausstellung Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs scheu

Where the eye mixes Schau and scheue

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

5 ch
Schau
6 ch
scheue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schau is [ʃaʊ̯] while scheue is [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schau is recorded at frequency rank #976, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaʊ̯]. scheue is at rank #42,110, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə].

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 43086, this pair ranks #1,429,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schau vs scheue

Shared letters: chsu. Private to "Schau": a. Private to "scheue": e.

"Schau" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV  ·  "scheue" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schaucshau · scahu · scchau · schhau · schua · shcau · sschau
  • scheuecsheue · sccheue · scehue · scheeu · schheue · schuee · shceue · sscheue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schau" and "scheue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schau" is a noun and "scheue" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Schau" or "scheue"?
"Schau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #976 in our German list, against #42,110 for "scheue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Schau" and "scheue". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "scheue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,429,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schau" and "scheue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheue vs schiere". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list