SchüssenvsschützenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,120
“Schüssen” frequency rank
#1,524
“schützen” frequency rank
25644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schüssen schützen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Schuss verteidigen; vor negativen Veränderungen bewahren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Schüssen and schützen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
Schüssen
8 ch
schützen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schüssen is [ˈʃʏsn̩] while schützen is [ˈʃʏt͡sn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schüssen is recorded at frequency rank #24,120, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃʏsn̩]. schützen is at rank #1,524, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʏt͡sn̩].

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 25644, this pair ranks #1,830,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schüssen vs schützen

Shared letters: cehnsü. Private to "Schüssen": -. Private to "schützen": tz.

"Schüssen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "schützen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

Schüssen#24,120
schützen#1,524

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schüssen" and "schützen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schüssen" is a noun and "schützen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Schüssen" or "schützen"?
"schützen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,524 in our German list, against #24,120 for "Schüssen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Schüssen vs schützen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Schüssen”; for a verb, it's “schützen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Schüssen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list