schuldevsSchulterTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#44,206
“schulde” frequency rank
#4,158
“Schulter” frequency rank
48364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schulde Schulter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schulden Körperregion bei Wirbeltieren zwischen Halsansatz und den Schultergelenken

Where the eye mixes schulde and Schulter

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

7 ch
schulde
8 ch
Schulter

Visual trap between schulde and Schulter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schulde is [ˈʃʊldə] while Schulter is [ˈʃʊltɐ]. 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 48364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schulde is recorded at frequency rank #44,206, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊldə]. Schulter is at rank #4,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʊltɐ].

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 48364, this pair ranks #1,251,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schulde vs Schulter

Shared letters: cehlsu. Private to "schulde": d. Private to "Schulter": rt.

"schulde" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "Schulter" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schuldecshulde · scchulde · schhulde · schlude · schudle · schuldde · schuled · schullde
  • Schultercshulter · scchulter · schhulter · schluter · schuletr · schullter · schulterr · schultre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schulde" and "Schulter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schulde" is a verb and "Schulter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schulde" or "Schulter"?
"Schulter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,158 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.

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 "schulde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schulter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schulde" and "Schulter" 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 #1,251,261 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