SchwertevsSchwerternWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Schwerte is a name, Schwertern is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Schwerte” is a name and “Schwertern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,303
“Schwerte” frequency rank
#37,765
“Schwertern” frequency rank
63068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schwerte Schwertern
Definition eine Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland Dativ Plural des Substantivs Schwert

Letter map: Schwerte vs Schwertern

Shared letters muted; letters that set Schwerte and Schwertern apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

8 ch
Schwerte
10 ch
Schwertern

Role in the sentence - Schwerte and Schwertern

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Schwerte is aname and Schwerternanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Schwerte” sits inside “Schwertern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schwerte is recorded at frequency rank #25,303, classified as aname, pronounced […]. Schwertern is at rank #37,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃveːɐ̯tɐn].

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 63068, this pair ranks #690,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schwerte vs Schwertern

Shared letters: cehrstw. Private to "Schwerte": -. Private to "Schwertern": n.

"Schwerte" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCCV  ·  "Schwertern" · 10 letters · shape CCCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schwertecshwerte · scchwerte · schewrte · schhwerte · schweret · schwerrte · schwertte · schwetre
  • Schwerterncshwertern · scchwertern · schewrtern · schhwertern · schweretrn · schwerrtern · schwertenr · schwerternn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Schwerte" and "Schwertern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schwerte" is a name and "Schwertern" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schwerte" or "Schwertern" show up more?
"Schwerte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,303 in our German list, against #37,765 for "Schwertern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "Schwerte" vs "Schwertern" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwerte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwertern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #690,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schwerte" and "Schwertern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schweizern vs Schwertern". 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 #690,017 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