ScheibenvsscheineTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,272
“Scheiben” frequency rank
#9,625
“scheine” frequency rank
17897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Scheiben scheine
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Scheibe 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs scheinen

Where the eye mixes Scheiben and scheine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
Scheiben
7 ch
scheine

Look-alike desk: Scheiben vs scheine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Scheiben is [ˈʃaɪ̯bn̩] while scheine is [ˈʃaɪ̯nə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Scheiben is recorded at frequency rank #8,272, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃaɪ̯bn̩]. scheine is at rank #9,625, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃaɪ̯nə].

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 17897, this pair ranks #1,923,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Scheiben vs scheine

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "Scheiben": b. Private to "scheine": -.

"Scheiben" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVCVC  ·  "scheine" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Scheibencsheiben · sccheiben · scehiben · schebien · scheibben · scheibenn · scheibne · scheiebn
  • scheinecsheine · sccheine · scehine · scheien · schenie · schheine · shceine · sscheine

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Scheiben" and "scheine" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Scheiben" is a noun and "scheine" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Scheiben" or "scheine"?
"Scheiben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,272 in our German list, against #9,625 for "scheine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Scheiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "scheine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Scheiben" and "scheine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheine vs schwinge". 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 #1,923,260 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