scheuenvsscreenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,380
“scheuen” frequency rank
#14,667
“screen” frequency rank
33047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scheuen screen
Definition etwas (häufig aus Angst) vermeiden oder meiden 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs screenen

Where the eye mixes scheuen and screen

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

7 ch
scheuen
6 ch
screen

Visual trap between scheuen and screen

A purely visual mix-up. scheuen ([ˈʃɔɪ̯ən]) and screen ([skʁiːn]) 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 33047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scheuen is recorded at frequency rank #18,380, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃɔɪ̯ən]. screen is at rank #14,667, tagged as averb, pronounced [skʁiːn].

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 33047, this pair ranks #1,694,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scheuen vs screen

Shared letters: cens. Private to "scheuen": hu. Private to "screen": r.

"scheuen" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVVC  ·  "screen" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scheuencsheuen · sccheuen · scehuen · scheeun · scheuenn · schheuen · schueen · shceuen
  • screencsreen · sccreen · sceren · screenn · scren · screne · scrreen · srceen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scheuen" for "screen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃɔɪ̯ən] versus [skʁiːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "scheuen" vs "screen" - which ranks higher?
"screen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,667 in our German list, against #18,380 for "scheuen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "scheuen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "screen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,694,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scheuen" and "screen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scheuen vs schmusen". 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 #1,694,444 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