SchuldvsschultWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#999
“Schuld” frequency rank
#33,280
“schult” frequency rank
34279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schuld schult
Definition Verbindlichkeit, Pflicht, etwas zu tun oder zu unterlassen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schulen

Where the eye mixes Schuld and schult

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

6 ch
Schuld
6 ch
schult

Visual trap between Schuld and schult

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schuld is [ʃʊlt] while schult is [ʃuːlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “Schuld” becomes t in “schult”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schuld is recorded at frequency rank #999, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃʊlt]. schult is at rank #33,280, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃuːlt].

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 34279, this pair ranks #1,666,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schuld vs schult

Shared letters: chlsu. Private to "Schuld": d. Private to "schult": t.

"Schuld" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "schult" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schuldcshuld · scchuld · schhuld · schlud · schudl · schuldd · schulld · scuhld
  • schultcshult · scchult · schhult · schlut · schullt · schultt · schutl · scuhlt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schuld" and "schult" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schuld" is a noun and "schult" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schuld" or "schult" show up more?
"Schuld" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #999 in our German list, against #33,280 for "schult". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schuld" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,666,944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schuld" and "schult" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schult vs shut". 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 #1,666,944 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