schierevsschwererWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,567
“schiere” frequency rank
#2,681
“schwerer” frequency rank
48248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schiere schwerer
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schier Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs schwer

Where the eye mixes schiere and schwerer

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

7 ch
schiere
8 ch
schwerer

Visual trap between schiere and schwerer

A purely visual mix-up. schiere ([ˈʃiːʁə]) and schwerer ([ˈʃveːʁɐ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48248, 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]. schwerer is at rank #2,681, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃveːʁɐ].

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 48248, this pair ranks #1,255,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schiere vs schwerer

Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "schiere": i. Private to "schwerer": w.

"schiere" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "schwerer" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schierecshiere · scchiere · scheire · schhiere · schieer · schierre · schiree · shciere
  • schwerercshwerer · scchwerer · schewrer · schhwerer · schweerr · schwererr · schwerrer · schwreer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schiere" and "schwerer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃiːʁə] versus [ˈʃveːʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schiere" or "schwerer"?
"schwerer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,681 in our German list, against #45,567 for "schiere". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schiere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwerer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,255,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schiere" and "schwerer" 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 #1,255,484 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