scheintvsSchweinWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#496
“scheint” frequency rank
#5,760
“Schwein” frequency rank
6256
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scheint Schwein
Definition 2. Person Plural Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs scheinen Säugetier und Paarhufer mit kurzen Beinen, verlängerter rüsselartiger Schnauze, Borsten

Where the eye mixes scheint and Schwein

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

7 ch
scheint
7 ch
Schwein

Visual trap between scheint and Schwein

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scheint is [ʃaɪ̯nt] while Schwein is [ʃvaɪ̯n]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scheint is recorded at frequency rank #496, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃaɪ̯nt]. Schwein is at rank #5,760, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃvaɪ̯n].

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 6256, this pair ranks #1,992,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scheint vs Schwein

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "scheint": t. Private to "Schwein": w.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scheintcsheint · sccheint · scehint · scheinnt · scheintt · scheitn · schenit · schheint
  • Schweincshwein · scchwein · schewin · schhwein · schweinn · schweni · schwien · schwwein

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scheint" for "Schwein" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scheint" is a verb and "Schwein" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "scheint" vs "Schwein" - which ranks higher?
"scheint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #496 in our German list, against #5,760 for "Schwein". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scheint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scheint" and "Schwein" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheint vs schleift". 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 #1,992,231 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