SchlundvsschwandWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#41,450
“Schlund” frequency rank
#46,979
“schwand” frequency rank
88429
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schlund schwand
Definition Übergang von Mundhöhle zur Speiseröhre 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs schwinden

Where the eye mixes Schlund and schwand

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Schlund and schwand follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Schlund
7 ch
schwand

Why the eye confuses Schlund with schwand

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schlund is [ʃlʊnt] while schwand is [ʃvant]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schlund is recorded at frequency rank #41,450, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃlʊnt]. schwand is at rank #46,979, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃvant].

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 88429, this pair ranks #68,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Schlund vs schwand

Shared letters: cdhns. Private to "Schlund": lu. Private to "schwand": aw.

"Schlund" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCC  ·  "schwand" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schlund ← cshlund · scchlund · schhlund · schllund · schlnud · schludn · schlundd · schlunnd
  • schwand ← cshwand · scchwand · schawnd · schhwand · schwadn · schwandd · schwannd · schwnad

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schlund" for "schwand" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schlund" is a noun and "schwand" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schlund" or "schwand" show up more?
"Schlund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,450 in our German list, against #46,979 for "schwand". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schlund" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwand" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schlund" and "schwand" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwand vs schwanke". 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 #68,453 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