schönvsschönemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“schön” and “schönem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#282
“schön” frequency rank
#19,384
“schönem” frequency rank
19666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schön schönem
Definition ästhetisch, eine angenehme Wirkung auf die Sinne habend: zum Beispiel ein gutes Aussehen habend, sich gut anhörend Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs schön

Where the eye mixes schön and schönem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
schön
7 ch
schönem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. schön ([ʃøːn]) and schönem ([ˈʃøːnəm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “schön” sits inside “schönem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schön is recorded at frequency rank #282, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃøːn]. schönem is at rank #19,384, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃøːnəm].

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 19666, this pair ranks #1,905,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schön vs schönem

Shared letters: chnsö. Private to "schön": -. Private to "schönem": em.

"schön" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "schönem" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schön" and "schönem" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃøːn] versus [ˈʃøːnəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schön" or "schönem"?
"schön" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #282 in our German list, against #19,384 for "schönem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list