schielevsshieldWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#38,389
“schiele” frequency rank
#18,063
“shield” frequency rank
56452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schiele shield
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schielen Schild, Schirm

Where the eye mixes schiele and shield

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
schiele
6 ch
shield

Look-alike desk: schiele vs shield

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schiele is [ˈʃiːlə] while shield is [ʃiːld]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56452, 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]. shield is at rank #18,063, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃiːld].

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 56452, this pair ranks #939,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schiele vs shield

Shared letters: ehils. Private to "schiele": c. Private to "shield": d.

"schiele" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "shield" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schielecshiele · scchiele · scheile · schhiele · schieel · schielle · schilee · scihele
  • shieldhsield · sheild · shhield · shiedl · shieldd · shielld · shiled · siheld

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schiele" for "shield" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schiele" is a verb and "shield" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "schiele" vs "shield" - which ranks higher?
"shield" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,063 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schiele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shield" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #939,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schiele" and "shield" 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 #939,622 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