schonevsschönemWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: schone is a verb, schönem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schone” is a verb and “schönem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,753
“schone” frequency rank
#19,384
“schönem” frequency rank
45137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schone schönem
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schonen Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs schön

Where the eye mixes schone and schönem

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

6 ch
schone
7 ch
schönem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schone is [ˈʃoːnə] while schönem is [ˈʃøːnəm]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schone is recorded at frequency rank #25,753, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃoːnə]. 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 45137, this pair ranks #1,363,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schone vs schönem

Shared letters: cehns. Private to "schone": o. Private to "schönem": .

"schone" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "schönem" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schonecshone · scchone · schhone · schnoe · schoen · scohne · shcone · sschone

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schone" and "schönem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schone" is a verb and "schönem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schone" or "schönem"?
"schönem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,384 in our German list, against #25,753 for "schone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list