SchneidvsschneienTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#27,043
“Schneid” frequency rank
#42,114
“schneien” frequency rank
69157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schneid schneien
Definition Mut oder forsche, unerschrockene und eventuell sogar draufgängerische Art in Form von Schneeflocken vom Himmel fallen

Where the eye mixes Schneid and schneien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Schneid runs 7 letters (CCCCVVC) against schneien's 8 (CCCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Schneid
8 ch
schneien

Why the eye confuses Schneid with schneien

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schneid is [ʃnaɪ̯t] while schneien is [ˈʃnaɪ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schneid is recorded at frequency rank #27,043, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃnaɪ̯t]. schneien is at rank #42,114, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃnaɪ̯ən].

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 69157, this pair ranks #485,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Schneid vs schneien

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "Schneid": d. Private to "schneien": -.

"Schneid" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVVC  ·  "schneien" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schneid ← cshneid · scchneid · schenid · schhneid · schnedi · schneidd · schnied · schnneid
  • schneien ← cshneien · scchneien · schhneien · schneein · schneienn · schneine · schnieen · schnneien

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schneid" for "schneien" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schneid" is a noun and "schneien" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schneid" or "schneien" show up more?
"Schneid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,043 in our German list, against #42,114 for "schneien". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schneid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schneien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #485,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schneid" and "schneien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schneien vs Schreier". 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 #485,261 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