schiervsschiereWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“schier” and “schiere” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,199
“schier” frequency rank
#45,567
“schiere” frequency rank
60766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schier schiere
Definition rein, von gleichmäßiger Beschaffenheit, ohne Beimengung Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schier

Where the eye mixes schier and schiere

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

6 ch
schier
7 ch
schiere

Why the eye confuses schier with schiere

A purely visual mix-up. schier ([ʃiːɐ̯]) and schiere ([ˈʃiːʁə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “schier” sits inside “schiere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schier is recorded at frequency rank #15,199, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃiːɐ̯]. schiere is at rank #45,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃiːʁə].

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 60766, this pair ranks #774,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schier vs schiere

Shared letters: cehirs. Private to "schier": -. Private to "schiere": -.

"schier" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC  ·  "schiere" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schier ← cshier · scchier · scheir · schhier · schierr · shcier · sschier
  • schiere ← cshiere · scchiere · scheire · schhiere · schieer · schierre · schiree · shciere

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schier" for "schiere" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃiːɐ̯] versus [ˈʃiːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "schier" or "schiere" show up more?
"schier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,199 in our German list, against #45,567 for "schiere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "schier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schiere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #774,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schier" and "schiere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schiere 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 #774,859 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