SchürzevsSchütteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,924
“Schürze” frequency rank
#27,925
“Schütte” frequency rank
55849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schürze Schütte
Definition ein Kleidungsstück, welches man über der restlichen Kleidung trägt, um diese vor Schmutz zu schützen Behälter zur Aufbewahrung von Schüttgut

Where the eye mixes Schürze and Schütte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Schürze and Schütte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Schürze
7 ch
Schütte

Why the eye confuses Schürze with Schütte

A purely visual mix-up. Schürze ([ˈʃʏʁt͡sə]) and Schütte ([ˈʃʏtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schürze is recorded at frequency rank #27,924, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʏʁt͡sə]. 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 55849, this pair ranks #963,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schürze vs Schütte

Shared letters: cehsü. Private to "Schürze": rz. Private to "Schütte": t.

"Schürze" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "Schütte" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Schürze" and "Schütte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃʏʁt͡sə] versus [ˈʃʏtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Schürze" or "Schütte" show up more?
"Schürze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,924 in our German list, against #27,925 for "Schütte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schürze" 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 #963,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schürze" and "Schütte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schurke vs Schütte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #963,299 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