schwingevsSchwungWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#46,980
“schwinge” frequency rank
#8,941
“Schwung” frequency rank
55921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schwinge Schwung
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schwingen heftige, starke, zügige Bewegung

Where the eye mixes schwinge and Schwung

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

8 ch
schwinge
7 ch
Schwung

Look-alike desk: schwinge vs Schwung

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schwinge is [ˈʃvɪŋə] while Schwung is [ʃvʊŋ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schwinge is recorded at frequency rank #46,980, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃvɪŋə]. Schwung is at rank #8,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃvʊŋ].

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 55921, this pair ranks #960,456 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schwinge vs Schwung

Shared letters: cghnsw. Private to "schwinge": ei. Private to "Schwung": u.

"schwinge" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCCV  ·  "Schwung" · 7 letters · shape CCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schwinge ← cshwinge · scchwinge · schhwinge · schiwnge · schwigne · schwineg · schwingge · schwinnge
  • Schwung ← cshwung · scchwung · schhwung · schuwng · schwnug · schwugn · schwungg · schwunng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "schwinge" and "Schwung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schwinge" is a verb and "Schwung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "schwinge" or "Schwung" show up more?
"Schwung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,941 in our German list, against #46,980 for "schwinge". 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 "schwinge" and "Schwung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schwinge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #960,456 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schwinge" and "Schwung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwanke vs schwinge". 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 #960,456 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