schwer vs schwöre, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#446
“schwer” frequency rank: #10,362
“schwöre” frequency rank: 10808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	schwer	schwöre
Definition	ein hohes Gewicht habend	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schwören

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set schwer and schwöre apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

schwer

7 ch

schwöre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schwer is [ʃveːɐ̯] 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schwer is recorded at frequency rank #446, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃveːɐ̯]. 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 10808, this pair ranks #1,973,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schwer vs schwöre

Shared letters: cehrsw. Private to "schwer": -. Private to "schwöre": ö.

"schwer" · 6 letters · shape CCCCVC · "schwöre" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

schwer ← cshwer · scchwer · schewr · schhwer · schwerr · schwre · schwwer · scwher

Frequency comparison

schwer#446

schwöre#10,362

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schwer" and "schwöre" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schwer" is an adjective and "schwöre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "schwer" or "schwöre"?

"schwer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #446 in our German list, against #10,362 for "schwöre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering schwer vs schwöre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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