schervsschürtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,007
“scher” frequency rank
#33,284
“schürt” frequency rank
69291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scher schürt
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs scheren 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schüren

Where the eye mixes scher and schürt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. scher runs 5 letters (CCCVC) against schürt's 6 (CCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
scher
6 ch
schürt

Why the eye confuses scher with schürt

A purely visual mix-up. scher ([ʃeːɐ̯]) and schürt ([ʃyːɐ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scher is recorded at frequency rank #36,007, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃeːɐ̯]. schürt is at rank #33,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃyːɐ̯t].

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 69291, this pair ranks #481,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of scher vs schürt

Shared letters: chrs. Private to "scher": e. Private to "schürt": tü.

"scher" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "schürt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scher ← csher · sccher · scehr · scherr · schher · schre · shcer · sscher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scher" for "schürt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃeːɐ̯] versus [ʃyːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "scher" vs "schürt" - which ranks higher?
"schürt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,284 in our German list, against #36,007 for "scher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "scher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schürt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #481,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scher" and "schürt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs scher". 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 #481,098 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