SchollevsschuldeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,452
“Scholle” frequency rank
#44,206
“schulde” frequency rank
85658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Scholle schulde
Definition in allen Meeren verbreiteter, oft als Speisefisch genutzter Plattfisch mit stark abgeplattetem ovalem Körper, der an der Oberseite olivgrün bis dunkelbraun gefleckt und an der Unterseite weiß ist 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schulden

Where the eye mixes Scholle and schulde

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

7 ch
Scholle
7 ch
schulde

Why the eye confuses Scholle with schulde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Scholle is [ˈʃɔlə] while schulde is [ˈʃʊldə]. 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 85658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Scholle is recorded at frequency rank #41,452, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃɔlə]. schulde is at rank #44,206, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊldə].

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 85658, this pair ranks #104,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Scholle vs schulde

Shared letters: cehls. Private to "Scholle": o. Private to "schulde": du.

"Scholle" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "schulde" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Scholle ← csholle · sccholle · schholle · schlole · schole · scholel · scohlle · shcolle
  • schulde ← cshulde · scchulde · schhulde · schlude · schudle · schuldde · schuled · schullde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Scholle" and "schulde" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Scholle" is a noun and "schulde" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Scholle" or "schulde"?
"Scholle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,452 in our German list, against #44,206 for "schulde". 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 "Scholle" and "schulde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Scholle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schulde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Scholle" and "schulde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schulde vs Schurke". 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 #104,989 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