SchuhevsschuldeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,039
“Schuhe” frequency rank
#44,206
“schulde” frequency rank
46245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schuhe schulde
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Schuh 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schulden

Where the eye mixes Schuhe and schulde

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

6 ch
Schuhe
7 ch
schulde

Visual trap between Schuhe and schulde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schuhe is [ˈʃuːə] while schulde is [ˈʃʊldə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schuhe is recorded at frequency rank #2,039, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃuːə]. schulde is at rank #44,206, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊldə].

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 46245, this pair ranks #1,325,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schuhe vs schulde

Shared letters: cehsu. Private to "Schuhe": -. Private to "schulde": dl.

"Schuhe" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "schulde" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schuhecshuhe · scchuhe · schhue · schhuhe · schueh · schuhhe · scuhhe · shcuhe
  • schuldecshulde · scchulde · schhulde · schlude · schudle · schuldde · schuled · schullde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schuhe" for "schulde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schuhe" is a noun and "schulde" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schuhe" or "schulde" show up more?
"Schuhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,039 in our German list, against #44,206 for "schulde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Schuhe" and "schulde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schuhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schulde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,325,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schuhe" and "schulde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schulde vs Schurke". 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 #1,325,736 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