schüttelnvsschüttenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,169
“schütteln” frequency rank
#30,759
“schütten” frequency rank
40928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schütteln schütten
Definition einen Gegenstand oder eine Person schnell hin- und herbewegen etwas durch starkes Kippen aus einem Gefäß entfernen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set schütteln and schütten apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
schütteln
8 ch
schütten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. schütteln ([ˈʃʏtl̩n]) 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 40928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schütteln is recorded at frequency rank #10,169, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʏtl̩n]. 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 40928, this pair ranks #1,494,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schütteln vs schütten

Shared letters: cehnstü. Private to "schütteln": l. Private to "schütten": -.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schütteln" and "schütten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃʏtl̩n] versus [ˈʃʏtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schütteln" or "schütten"?
"schütteln" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,169 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list