schielevsSchildeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,389
“schiele” frequency rank
#23,693
“Schilde” frequency rank
62082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schiele Schilde
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schielen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Schild

Where the eye mixes schiele and Schilde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
schiele
7 ch
Schilde

Why the eye confuses schiele with Schilde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schiele is [ˈʃiːlə] while Schilde is [ˈʃɪldə]. 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 62082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schiele is recorded at frequency rank #38,389, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃiːlə]. Schilde is at rank #23,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃɪldə].

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 62082, this pair ranks #725,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schiele vs Schilde

Shared letters: cehils. Private to "schiele": -. Private to "Schilde": d.

"schiele" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "Schilde" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schielecshiele · scchiele · scheile · schhiele · schieel · schielle · schilee · scihele
  • Schildecshilde · scchilde · schhilde · schidle · schildde · schiled · schillde · schlide

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schiele" for "Schilde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schiele" is a verb and "Schilde" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schiele" or "Schilde" show up more?
"Schilde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,693 in our German list, against #38,389 for "schiele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schiele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schilde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #725,849 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schiele" and "Schilde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schiele 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 #725,849 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