schiebvsschiefeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#31,258
“schieb” frequency rank
#33,268
“schiefe” frequency rank
64526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schieb schiefe
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schieben Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schief

Where the eye mixes schieb and schiefe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. schieb runs 6 letters (CCCVVC) against schiefe's 7 (CCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
schieb
7 ch
schiefe

Look-alike desk: schieb vs schiefe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schieb is [ʃiːp] while schiefe is [ˈʃiːfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schieb is recorded at frequency rank #31,258, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃiːp]. schiefe is at rank #33,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃiːfə].

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 64526, this pair ranks #638,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schieb vs schiefe

Shared letters: cehis. Private to "schieb": b. Private to "schiefe": f.

"schieb" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC  ·  "schiefe" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schieb ← cshieb · scchieb · scheib · schhieb · schibe · schiebb · sciheb · shcieb
  • schiefe ← cshiefe · scchiefe · scheife · schhiefe · schieef · schieffe · schifee · scihefe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schieb" for "schiefe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schieb" is a verb and "schiefe" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "schieb" vs "schiefe" - which ranks higher?
"schieb" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,258 in our German list, against #33,268 for "schiefe". 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 "schieb" and "schiefe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schieb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schiefe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #638,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schieb" and "schiefe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schiefe 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 #638,377 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