scherenvsschiereWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: scheren is a verb, schiere is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“scheren” is a verb and “schiere” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,054
“scheren” frequency rank
#45,567
“schiere” frequency rank
63621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scheren schiere
Definition etwas mit einer Schere oder ähnlichem Gerät entfernen, etwas mit einer Schere oder ähnlichem Gerät von etwas befreien Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schier

Where the eye mixes scheren and schiere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. scheren (CCCVCVC) and schiere (CCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
scheren
7 ch
schiere

Visual trap between scheren and schiere

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scheren is [ˈʃeːʁən] while schiere is [ˈʃiːʁə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scheren is recorded at frequency rank #18,054, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃeːʁən]. schiere is at rank #45,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃiːʁə].

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 63621, this pair ranks #670,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scheren vs schiere

Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "scheren": n. Private to "schiere": i.

"scheren" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC  ·  "schiere" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scheren ← csheren · sccheren · scehren · scheern · scherenn · scherne · scherren · schheren
  • schiere ← cshiere · scchiere · scheire · schhiere · schieer · schierre · schiree · shciere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scheren" and "schiere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scheren" is a verb and "schiere" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "scheren" vs "schiere" - which ranks higher?
"scheren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,054 in our German list, against #45,567 for "schiere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "scheren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schiere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #670,271 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scheren" and "schiere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schiere vs Schmiere". 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 #670,271 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