schierevsSchippeTell them apart

Quick tell: schiere is a adjective, Schippe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schiere” is an adjective and “Schippe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,567
“schiere” frequency rank
#35,432
“Schippe” frequency rank
80999
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schiere Schippe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schier Schaufel (Spaten), mit der man etwas aufnehmen, bewegen kann

Where the eye mixes schiere and Schippe

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

7 ch
schiere
7 ch
Schippe

Visual trap between schiere and Schippe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schiere is [ˈʃiːʁə] while Schippe is [ˈʃɪpə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schiere is recorded at frequency rank #45,567, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃiːʁə]. Schippe is at rank #35,432, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃɪpə].

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 80999, this pair ranks #184,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of schiere vs Schippe

Shared letters: cehis. Private to "schiere": r. Private to "Schippe": p.

"schiere" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "Schippe" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schierecshiere · scchiere · scheire · schhiere · schieer · schierre · schiree · shciere
  • Schippecshippe · scchippe · schhippe · schipe · schipep · schpipe · scihppe · shcippe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schiere" and "Schippe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schiere" is an adjective and "Schippe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schiere" or "Schippe" show up more?
"Schippe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,432 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 "schiere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schippe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #184,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schiere" and "Schippe" 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 #184,341 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