Which to use
“schone” is a verb and “Sühne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,753
- “schone” frequency rank
- #41,488
- “Sühne” frequency rank
- 67241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | schone | Sühne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schonen | eine Wiedergutmachung, eine Genugtuung, eine Leistung für ein begangenes Unrecht oder ein Verschulden |
Where the eye mixes schone and Sühne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. schone runs 6 letters (CCCVCV) against Sühne's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between schone and Sühne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schone is [ˈʃoːnə] while Sühne is [ˈzyːnə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67241, 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]. Sühne is at rank #41,488, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzyːnə].
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 67241, this pair ranks #546,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of schone vs Sühne
Shared letters: ehns. Private to "schone": co. Private to "Sühne": ü.
"schone" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "Sühne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- schone ← cshone · scchone · schhone · schnoe · schoen · scohne · shcone · sschone
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "schone" for "Sühne" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "schone" or "Sühne" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "schone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sühne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #546,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "schone" and "Sühne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sohns vs Sühne". 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 #546,631 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.