Which to use
“schweben” is a verb and “schwebende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,403
- “schweben” frequency rank
- #46,265
- “schwebende” frequency rank
- 60668
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | schweben | schwebende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in einem Medium treiben | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schwebend |
Where the eye mixes schweben and schwebende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. schweben runs 8 letters (CCCCVCVC) against schwebende's 10 (CCCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: schweben vs schwebende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schweben is [ˈʃveːbn̩] while schwebende is [ˈʃveːbn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “schweben” sits inside “schwebende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
schweben is recorded at frequency rank #14,403, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃveːbn̩]. schwebende is at rank #46,265, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃveːbn̩də].
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 60668, this pair ranks #778,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of schweben vs schwebende
Shared letters: bcehnsw. Private to "schweben": -. Private to "schwebende": d.
"schweben" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCVC · "schwebende" · 10 letters · shape CCCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- schweben ← cshweben · scchweben · schewben · schhweben · schwbeen · schwebben · schwebenn · schwebne
- schwebende ← cshwebende · scchwebende · schewbende · schhwebende · schwbeende · schwebbende · schwebedne · schwebendde
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "schweben" for "schwebende" ever safe?
Which is more common, "schweben" or "schwebende"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "schweben" and "schwebende" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "schweben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "schwebende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #778,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "schweben" and "schwebende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwebende vs schwebenden". 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 #778,391 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.