schervsSucheWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#36,007
“scher” frequency rank
#693
“Suche” frequency rank
36700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scher Suche
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs scheren Prozess der Lokalisierung eines gewünschten Objektes; Bemühung mit dem Ziel, etwas Bestimmtes zu finden

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set scher and Suche apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
scher
5 ch
Suche

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scher is [ʃeːɐ̯] while Suche is [ˈzuːxə]. 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 36700, 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]. Suche is at rank #693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzuːxə].

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 36700, this pair ranks #1,608,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scher vs Suche

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "scher": r. Private to "Suche": u.

"scher" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "Suche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schercsher · sccher · scehr · scherr · schher · schre · shcer · sscher
  • Suchescuhe · ssuche · sucche · suceh · suchhe · suhce · usche

Frequency comparison

scher#36,007
Suche#693

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "scher" and "Suche" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scher" is a verb and "Suche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "scher" or "Suche"?
"Suche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #693 in our German list, against #36,007 for "scher". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering scher vs Suche

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “scher”; for a noun, it's “Suche”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “scher” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list