Which to use
“Schulden” is a noun and “schultern” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,150
- “Schulden” frequency rank
- #6,351
- “schultern” frequency rank
- 9501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Schulden | schultern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die gesamten Verpflichtungen (Passiva) einer Person oder einer Firma, die dem vorhandenen Vermögen (Aktiva) gegenüber stehen | transitiv: |
Where the eye mixes Schulden and schultern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Schulden and schultern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schulden is [ˈʃʊldn̩] while schultern is [ˈʃʊltɐn]. 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 9501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Schulden is recorded at frequency rank #3,150, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʊldn̩]. schultern is at rank #6,351, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊltɐn].
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 9501, this pair ranks #1,979,642 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Schulden vs schultern
Shared letters: cehlnsu. Private to "Schulden": d. Private to "schultern": rt.
"Schulden" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC · "schultern" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Schulden" and "schultern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Schulden" or "schultern" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Schulden" and "schultern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Schulden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "schultern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,979,642 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Schulden" and "schultern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schellen vs Schulden". 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 #1,979,642 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.