scheintvsschreitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“scheint” and “schreit” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#496
“scheint” frequency rank
#6,103
“schreit” frequency rank
6599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scheint schreit
Definition 2. Person Plural Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs scheinen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schreien

Where the eye mixes scheint and schreit

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

7 ch
scheint
7 ch
schreit

Visual trap between scheint and schreit

A purely visual mix-up. scheint ([ʃaɪ̯nt]) and schreit ([ʃʁaɪ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scheint is recorded at frequency rank #496, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃaɪ̯nt]. schreit is at rank #6,103, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃʁaɪ̯t].

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 6599, this pair ranks #1,991,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scheint vs schreit

Shared letters: cehist. Private to "scheint": n. Private to "schreit": r.

"scheint" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCC  ·  "schreit" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scheintcsheint · sccheint · scehint · scheinnt · scheintt · scheitn · schenit · schheint
  • schreitcshreit · scchreit · scherit · schhreit · schreitt · schreti · schriet · schrreit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scheint" for "schreit" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃaɪ̯nt] versus [ʃʁaɪ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "scheint" or "schreit"?
"scheint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #496 in our German list, against #6,103 for "schreit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "scheint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schreit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scheint" and "schreit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schleift vs schreit". 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 #1,991,085 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