schiedvsSchuldTell them apart

Quick tell: schied is a verb, Schuld is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schied” is a verb and “Schuld” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,119
“schied” frequency rank
#999
“Schuld” frequency rank
18118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schied Schuld
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs scheiden Verbindlichkeit, Pflicht, etwas zu tun oder zu unterlassen

Where the eye mixes schied and Schuld

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
schied
6 ch
Schuld

Why the eye confuses schied with Schuld

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schied is [ʃiːt] while Schuld is [ʃʊlt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schied is recorded at frequency rank #17,119, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃiːt]. Schuld is at rank #999, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃʊlt].

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 18118, this pair ranks #1,921,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schied vs Schuld

Shared letters: cdhs. Private to "schied": ei. Private to "Schuld": lu.

"schied" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC  ·  "Schuld" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schiedcshied · scchied · scheid · schhied · schide · schiedd · scihed · shcied
  • Schuldcshuld · scchuld · schhuld · schlud · schudl · schuldd · schulld · scuhld

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schied" for "Schuld" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schied" is a verb and "Schuld" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schied" or "Schuld" show up more?
"Schuld" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #999 in our German list, against #17,119 for "schied". 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 "schied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schuld" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schied" and "Schuld" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schied vs schrien". 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 #1,921,227 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