Which to use
“Schau” is a noun and “schmal” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #976
- “Schau” frequency rank
- #12,375
- “schmal” frequency rank
- 13351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Schau | schmal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | thematisch organisierte öffentliche Ausstellung | wenig breit, keine große Ausdehnung in der Breite aufweisend |
Where the eye mixes Schau and schmal
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Schau vs schmal
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schau is [ʃaʊ̯] while schmal is [ʃmaːl]. 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 13351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Schau is recorded at frequency rank #976, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaʊ̯]. schmal is at rank #12,375, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃmaːl].
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 13351, this pair ranks #1,958,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Schau vs schmal
Shared letters: achs. Private to "Schau": u. Private to "schmal": lm.
"Schau" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV · "schmal" · 6 letters · shape CCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Schau" and "schmal" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Schau" or "schmal" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Schau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "schmal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,958,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Schau" and "schmal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schalk vs schmal". 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 #1,958,539 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.