schuftenvsSchütteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: schuften is a verb, Schütte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schuften” is a verb and “Schütte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,256
“schuften” frequency rank
#27,925
“Schütte” frequency rank
60181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schuften Schütte
Definition hart/schwer arbeiten Behälter zur Aufbewahrung von Schüttgut

Where the eye mixes schuften and Schütte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. schuften runs 8 letters (CCCVCCVC) against Schütte's 7 (CCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
schuften
7 ch
Schütte

Look-alike desk: schuften vs Schütte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schuften is [ˈʃʊftn̩] while Schütte is [ˈʃʏtə]. 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 60181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schuften is recorded at frequency rank #32,256, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊftn̩]. Schütte is at rank #27,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʏtə].

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 60181, this pair ranks #796,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schuften vs Schütte

Shared letters: cehst. Private to "schuften": fnu. Private to "Schütte": ü.

"schuften" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "Schütte" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schuften ← cshuften · scchuften · schfuten · schhuften · schufetn · schufften · schuftenn · schuftne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schuften" and "Schütte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schuften" is a verb and "Schütte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "schuften" vs "Schütte" - which ranks higher?
"Schütte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,925 in our German list, against #32,256 for "schuften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schuften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schütte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #796,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schuften" and "Schütte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schurke vs Schütte". 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 #796,537 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