unschönvsunschöneConfusable pair

Which to use

“unschön” and “unschöne” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,751
“unschön” frequency rank
#30,824
“unschöne” frequency rank
54575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unschön unschöne
Definition nicht schön, nicht gefällig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs unschön

Where the eye mixes unschön and unschöne

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

7 ch
unschön
8 ch
unschöne

Why the eye confuses unschön with unschöne

A purely visual mix-up. unschön ([ˈʊnʃøːn]) and unschöne ([ˈʊnʃøːnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “unschön” sits inside “unschöne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unschön is recorded at frequency rank #23,751, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʃøːn]. unschöne is at rank #30,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʃøːnə].

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 54575, this pair ranks #1,013,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unschön vs unschöne

Shared letters: chnsuö. Private to "unschön": -. Private to "unschöne": e.

"unschön" · 7 letters · shape VCCCCVC  ·  "unschöne" · 8 letters · shape VCCCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "unschön" for "unschöne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnʃøːn] versus [ˈʊnʃøːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "unschön" vs "unschöne" - which ranks higher?
"unschön" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,751 in our German list, against #30,824 for "unschöne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "unschön" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unschöne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,013,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unschön" and "unschöne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unschöne vs unschönen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,013,487 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