schürtvsSchütteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#33,284
“schürt” frequency rank
#27,925
“Schütte” frequency rank
61209
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schürt Schütte
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schüren Behälter zur Aufbewahrung von Schüttgut

Where the eye mixes schürt and Schütte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. schürt runs 6 letters (CCCVCC) against Schütte's 7 (CCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
schürt
7 ch
Schütte

Visual trap between schürt and Schütte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schürt is [ʃyːɐ̯t] while Schütte is [ˈʃʏtə]. 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 61209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schürt is recorded at frequency rank #33,284, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃyːɐ̯t]. Schütte is at rank #27,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʏtə].

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 61209, this pair ranks #758,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schürt vs Schütte

Shared letters: chstü. Private to "schürt": r. Private to "Schütte": e.

"schürt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "Schütte" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schürt" for "Schütte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schürt" is a verb and "Schütte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schürt" or "Schütte" show up more?
"Schütte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,925 in our German list, against #33,284 for "schürt". 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 "schürt" and "Schütte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schürt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schütte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #758,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schürt" and "Schütte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schurke vs schürt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #758,263 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