SchwarzevsschwöreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,612
“Schwarze” frequency rank
#10,362
“schwöre” frequency rank
11974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schwarze schwöre
Definition weibliche, dunkelhäutige Person 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schwören

Where the eye mixes Schwarze and schwöre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Schwarze runs 8 letters (CCCCVCCV) against schwöre's 7 (CCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Schwarze
7 ch
schwöre

Visual trap between Schwarze and schwöre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schwarze is [ˈʃvaʁt͡sə] while schwöre is [ˈʃvøːʁə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schwarze is recorded at frequency rank #1,612, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃvaʁt͡sə]. schwöre is at rank #10,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃvøːʁə].

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 11974, this pair ranks #1,966,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schwarze vs schwöre

Shared letters: cehrsw. Private to "Schwarze": az. Private to "schwöre": ö.

"Schwarze" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCCV  ·  "schwöre" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schwarze ← cshwarze · scchwarze · schawrze · schhwarze · schwarez · schwarrze · schwarzze · schwazre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schwarze" for "schwöre" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schwarze" is a noun and "schwöre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schwarze" or "schwöre" show up more?
"Schwarze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,612 in our German list, against #10,362 for "schwöre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Schwarze" and "schwöre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwarze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwöre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schwarze" and "schwöre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schiere vs schwöre". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,966,898 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