schickenvsschickerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,709
“schicken” frequency rank
#29,769
“schicker” frequency rank
31478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schicken schicker
Definition etwas oder jemanden von einem Ort zu einem anderen senden sich durch den Konsum von Alkohol in einem (leichten) Rauschzustand befindend

Where the eye mixes schicken and schicker

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
schicken
8 ch
schicker

Visual trap between schicken and schicker

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schicken is [ˈʃɪkn̩] while schicker is [ˈʃɪkɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “schicken” becomes r in “schicker”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schicken is recorded at frequency rank #1,709, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃɪkn̩]. schicker is at rank #29,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃɪkɐ].

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 31478, this pair ranks #1,727,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schicken vs schicker

Shared letters: cehiks. Private to "schicken": n. Private to "schicker": r.

"schicken" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "schicker" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schickencshicken · scchicken · schciken · schhicken · schiccken · schicekn · schickenn · schickken
  • schickercshicker · scchicker · schciker · schhicker · schiccker · schicekr · schickerr · schickker

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schicken" for "schicker" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schicken" is a verb and "schicker" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schicken" or "schicker" show up more?
"schicken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,709 in our German list, against #29,769 for "schicker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schicken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schicker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,727,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schicken" and "schicker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schicker vs schocken". 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 #1,727,306 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