Scham
[ʃaːm]
The verdict
“Scham” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #12,373 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,373
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - angstbesetztes Empfinden, das meist durch eigenes und von anderen beobachtbares Fehlverhalten ausgelöst wird, durch das man deren Achtung zu verlieren droht
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Scham |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ʃaːm] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,373 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Scham” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Scham is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʃaːm]. Corpus data places it at rank #12,373 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for Scham, with forms such as "csham", "scahm", and "sccham". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sha", "Spam", "slam", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is Scham, spelled S-C-H-A-M.
Definition
- 1angstbesetztes Empfinden, das meist durch eigenes und von anderen beobachtbares Fehlverhalten ausgelöst wird, durch das man deren Achtung zu verlieren droht
- 2die Gegend der Geschlechtsteile beim Menschen
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csham,scahm,sccham,schamm,schham,schma,shcam,sscham
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Scham - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Scham"?
What does "Scham" mean?
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Using “Scham”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ʃaːm] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sha” - see the side-by-side comparison. Scham vs sha
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.