schönvsShowWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: schön is a adjective, Show is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schön” is an adjective and “Show” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#282
“schön” frequency rank
#1,333
“Show” frequency rank
1615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schön Show
Definition ästhetisch, eine angenehme Wirkung auf die Sinne habend: zum Beispiel ein gutes Aussehen habend, sich gut anhörend Vorführung eines (großen) Unterhaltungsprogramms vor Publikum (beispielsweise im Theater oder Varieté; oft in Fernsehen oder Radio übertragen), teilweise mit Informationscharakter

Where the eye mixes schön and Show

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
schön
4 ch
Show

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schön is [ʃøːn] while Show is [ʃɔʊ̯]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schön is recorded at frequency rank #282, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃøːn]. Show is at rank #1,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃɔʊ̯].

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 1615, this pair ranks #2,004,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schön vs Show

Shared letters: hs. Private to "schön": cnö. Private to "Show": ow.

"schön" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "Show" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Showhsow · shhow · showw · shwo · sohw · sshow

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schön" and "Show" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schön" is an adjective and "Show" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schön" or "Show"?
"schön" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #282 in our German list, against #1,333 for "Show". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "schön" and "Show". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schön" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Show" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schön" and "Show" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Show vs Soho". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list