scheuevsSchneeTell them apart

Quick tell: scheue is a adjective, Schnee is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“scheue” is an adjective and “Schnee” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,110
“scheue” frequency rank
#2,917
“Schnee” frequency rank
45027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scheue Schnee
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs scheu Niederschlag in Form von Eiskristallen

Where the eye mixes scheue and Schnee

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
scheue
6 ch
Schnee

Visual trap between scheue and Schnee

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scheue is [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə] while Schnee is [ʃneː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scheue is recorded at frequency rank #42,110, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃɔɪ̯ə]. Schnee is at rank #2,917, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃneː].

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 45027, this pair ranks #1,366,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scheue vs Schnee

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "scheue": u. Private to "Schnee": n.

"scheue" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVV  ·  "Schnee" · 6 letters · shape CCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scheuecsheue · sccheue · scehue · scheeu · schheue · schuee · shceue · sscheue
  • Schneecshnee · scchnee · schene · schhnee · schne · schnnee · scnhee · shcnee

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scheue" and "Schnee" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scheue" is an adjective and "Schnee" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "scheue" or "Schnee" show up more?
"Schnee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,917 in our German list, against #42,110 for "scheue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scheue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schnee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,366,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scheue" and "Schnee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheue vs schiere". 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 #1,366,896 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