schauevsshakeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: schaue is a adjective, shake is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schaue” is an adjective and “shake” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,228
“schaue” frequency rank
#24,125
“shake” frequency rank
28353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schaue shake
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schau jemanden oder etwas schütteln

Where the eye mixes schaue and shake

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

6 ch
schaue
5 ch
shake

Look-alike desk: schaue vs shake

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schaue is [ʃaʊ̯ə] while shake is [ʃeɪk]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schaue is recorded at frequency rank #4,228, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃaʊ̯ə]. shake is at rank #24,125, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃeɪk].

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 28353, this pair ranks #1,786,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schaue vs shake

Shared letters: aehs. Private to "schaue": cu. Private to "shake": k.

"schaue" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVV  ·  "shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schauecshaue · scahue · scchaue · schaeu · schhaue · schuae · shcaue · sschaue
  • shakehsake · sahke · shaek · shakke · shhake · shkae · sshake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schaue" and "shake" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schaue" is an adjective and "shake" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "schaue" vs "shake" - which ranks higher?
"schaue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,228 in our German list, against #24,125 for "shake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schaue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,786,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schaue" and "shake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs shake". 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 #1,786,296 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