schriebvsschrienWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,710
“schrieb” frequency rank
#46,261
“schrien” frequency rank
47971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schrieb schrien
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs schreiben 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs schreien

Where the eye mixes schrieb and schrien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
schrieb
7 ch
schrien

Visual trap between schrieb and schrien

A purely visual mix-up. schrieb ([ʃʁiːp]) and schrien ([ʃʁiːn]) 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 a single letter - b in “schrieb” becomes n in “schrien”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schrieb is recorded at frequency rank #1,710, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃʁiːp]. schrien is at rank #46,261, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃʁiːn].

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 47971, this pair ranks #1,265,436 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schrieb vs schrien

Shared letters: cehirs. Private to "schrieb": b. Private to "schrien": n.

"schrieb" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVVC  ·  "schrien" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schriebcshrieb · scchrieb · schhrieb · schireb · schribe · schriebb · schrrieb · scrhieb
  • schriencshrien · scchrien · schhrien · schiren · schrienn · schrine · schrrien · scrhien

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schrieb" and "schrien" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʃʁiːp] versus [ʃʁiːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "schrieb" or "schrien" show up more?
"schrieb" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,710 in our German list, against #46,261 for "schrien". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schrieb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schrien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,265,436 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schrieb" and "schrien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schreier vs schrien". 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 #1,265,436 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