schiedenvsSchmiedeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#31,773
“schieden” frequency rank
#17,401
“Schmiede” frequency rank
49174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schieden Schmiede
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs scheiden Ort oder Werkstatt, ausgestattet mit einer oder mehreren Schmiedefeuern, Essen, Blasebälgen und Werkzeugen zum Zwecke der Metallbearbeitung, wie zum Beispiel dem Amboss; hier gehen Schmiede ihrem Handwerk nach

Where the eye mixes schieden and Schmiede

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. schieden (CCCVVCVC) and Schmiede (CCCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
schieden
8 ch
Schmiede

Why the eye confuses schieden with Schmiede

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schieden is [ˈʃiːdn̩] while Schmiede is [ˈʃmiːdə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 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 49174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schieden is recorded at frequency rank #31,773, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃiːdn̩]. Schmiede is at rank #17,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃmiːdə].

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 49174, this pair ranks #1,221,387 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schieden vs Schmiede

Shared letters: cdehis. Private to "schieden": n. Private to "Schmiede": m.

"schieden" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVCVC  ·  "Schmiede" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schieden ← cshieden · scchieden · schhieden · schideen · schiedden · schiedenn · schiedne · schieedn
  • Schmiede ← cshmiede · scchmiede · schhmiede · schimede · schmeide · schmidee · schmiedde · schmieed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schieden" for "Schmiede" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schieden" is a verb and "Schmiede" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schieden" or "Schmiede"?
"Schmiede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,401 in our German list, against #31,773 for "schieden". 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 "schieden" and "Schmiede" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schieden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schmiede" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,221,387 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schieden" and "Schmiede" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schieden vs schlieren". 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 #1,221,387 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