schierevsschwöreConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#45,567
“schiere” frequency rank
#10,362
“schwöre” frequency rank
55929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schiere schwöre
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schier 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schwören

Where the eye mixes schiere and schwöre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. schiere (CCCVVCV) and schwöre (CCCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
schiere
7 ch
schwöre

Look-alike desk: schiere vs schwöre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schiere is [ˈʃiːʁə] while schwöre is [ˈʃvøːʁə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55929, 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]. schwöre is at rank #10,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃvøːʁə].

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 55929, this pair ranks #960,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schiere vs schwöre

Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "schiere": i. Private to "schwöre": wö.

"schiere" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "schwöre" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schiere ← cshiere · scchiere · scheire · schhiere · schieer · schierre · schiree · shciere

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schiere" and "schwöre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schiere" is an adjective and "schwöre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schiere" or "schwöre"?
"schwöre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,362 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schiere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwöre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #960,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schiere" and "schwöre" 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 #960,150 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