schulternvsschüttenTell them apart

Which to use

“schultern” and “schütten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,351
“schultern” frequency rank
#30,759
“schütten” frequency rank
37110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schultern schütten
Definition transitiv: etwas durch starkes Kippen aus einem Gefäß entfernen

Where the eye mixes schultern and schütten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. schultern runs 9 letters (CCCVCCVCC) against schütten's 8 (CCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
schultern
8 ch
schütten

Why the eye confuses schultern with schütten

A purely visual mix-up. schultern ([ˈʃʊltɐn]) and schütten ([ˈʃʏtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schultern is recorded at frequency rank #6,351, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊltɐn]. schütten is at rank #30,759, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʏtn̩].

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 37110, this pair ranks #1,598,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schultern vs schütten

Shared letters: cehnst. Private to "schultern": lru. Private to "schütten": ü.

"schultern" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCC  ·  "schütten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schultern ← cshultern · scchultern · schhultern · schlutern · schuletrn · schulltern · schultenr · schulternn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schultern" for "schütten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃʊltɐn] versus [ˈʃʏtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schultern" or "schütten"?
"schultern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,351 in our German list, against #30,759 for "schütten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schultern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schütten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,598,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schultern" and "schütten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs schütten". 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 #1,598,586 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