schüttenvsschützenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,759
“schütten” frequency rank
#1,524
“schützen” frequency rank
32283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schütten schützen
Definition etwas durch starkes Kippen aus einem Gefäß entfernen verteidigen; vor negativen Veränderungen bewahren

Where the eye mixes schütten and schützen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
schütten
8 ch
schützen

Why the eye confuses schütten with schützen

A purely visual mix-up. schütten ([ˈʃʏtn̩]) and schützen ([ˈʃʏt͡sn̩]) 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 a single letter - t in “schütten” becomes z in “schützen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schütten is recorded at frequency rank #30,759, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʏtn̩]. 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 32283, this pair ranks #1,710,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schütten vs schützen

Shared letters: cehnstü. Private to "schütten": -. Private to "schützen": z.

"schütten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "schützen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schütten" and "schützen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃʏtn̩] versus [ˈʃʏt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "schütten" or "schützen" show up more?
"schützen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,524 in our German list, against #30,759 for "schütten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schütten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schützen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,710,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schütten" and "schützen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs schütten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,710,938 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