SchuldvsschürtTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#999
“Schuld” frequency rank
#33,284
“schürt” frequency rank
34283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes Schuld and schürt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Schuld
6 ch
schürt

Visual trap between Schuld and schürt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schuld is [ʃʊlt] while schürt is [ʃyːɐ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schuld is recorded at frequency rank #999, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃʊlt]. schürt is at rank #33,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃyːɐ̯t].

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 34283, this pair ranks #1,666,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schuld vs schürt

Shared letters: chs. Private to "Schuld": dlu. Private to "schürt": rtü.

"Schuld" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "schürt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schuldcshuld · scchuld · schhuld · schlud · schudl · schuldd · schulld · scuhld

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Schuld" and "schürt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schuld" is a noun and "schürt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Schuld" vs "schürt" - which ranks higher?
"Schuld" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #999 in our German list, against #33,284 for "schürt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Schuld" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schürt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,666,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schuld" and "schürt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schurke vs schürt". 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 #1,666,865 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