SchuldigevsschuldigenTell them apart

Quick tell: Schuldige is a noun, schuldigen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Schuldige” is a noun and “schuldigen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,383
“Schuldige” frequency rank
#17,404
“schuldigen” frequency rank
45787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schuldige schuldigen
Definition weibliche Person, die schuldig ist Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs schuldig

Where the eye mixes Schuldige and schuldigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Schuldige runs 9 letters (CCCVCCVCV) against schuldigen's 10 (CCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Schuldige
10 ch
schuldigen

Why the eye confuses Schuldige with schuldigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schuldige is [ˈʃʊldɪɡə] while schuldigen is [ˈʃʊldɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Schuldige” sits inside “schuldigen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schuldige is recorded at frequency rank #28,383, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʊldɪɡə]. schuldigen is at rank #17,404, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃʊldɪɡn̩].

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 45787, this pair ranks #1,341,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schuldige vs schuldigen

Shared letters: cdeghilsu. Private to "Schuldige": -. Private to "schuldigen": n.

"Schuldige" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCV  ·  "schuldigen" · 10 letters · shape CCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schuldige ← cshuldige · scchuldige · schhuldige · schludige · schudlige · schulddige · schuldgie · schuldieg
  • schuldigen ← cshuldigen · scchuldigen · schhuldigen · schludigen · schudligen · schulddigen · schuldgien · schuldiegn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schuldige" for "schuldigen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schuldige" is a noun and "schuldigen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Schuldige" or "schuldigen"?
"schuldigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,404 in our German list, against #28,383 for "Schuldige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schuldige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schuldigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,341,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schuldige" and "schuldigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schulde vs Schuldige". 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 #1,341,228 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