SchildevsschildernWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#23,693
“Schilde” frequency rank
#12,162
“schildern” frequency rank
35855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schilde schildern
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Schild etwas anschaulich und detailreich erzählen, beschreiben

Where the eye mixes Schilde and schildern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Schilde runs 7 letters (CCCVCCV) against schildern's 9 (CCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Schilde
9 ch
schildern

Visual trap between Schilde and schildern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schilde is [ˈʃɪldə] while schildern is [ˈʃɪldɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Schilde” sits inside “schildern”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schilde is recorded at frequency rank #23,693, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃɪldə]. schildern is at rank #12,162, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃɪldɐn].

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 35855, this pair ranks #1,629,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schilde vs schildern

Shared letters: cdehils. Private to "Schilde": -. Private to "schildern": nr.

"Schilde" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "schildern" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schilde ← cshilde · scchilde · schhilde · schidle · schildde · schiled · schillde · schlide
  • schildern ← cshildern · scchildern · schhildern · schidlern · schilddern · schildenr · schildernn · schilderrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schilde" for "schildern" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schilde" is a noun and "schildern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Schilde" vs "schildern" - which ranks higher?
"schildern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,162 in our German list, against #23,693 for "Schilde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schildern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,629,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schilde" and "schildern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schilde vs schrille". 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 #1,629,903 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