scharren

[ˈʃaʁən]

/[ˈʃaʁən]/ verb

The verdict

“scharren” is uncommon German (frequency #76,122 among 107,600 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,122
frequency rank, German
107,600
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - (mit den Gliedmaßen) den Erdboden nur an der Oberfläche mit oft wiederholten, schnellen, kratzenden Bewegungen aufwühlen, mit der Schnauze, mit den Pfoten durch Kratzen ein Loch graben oder den Bod...

Key facts for scharren
PropertyValue
Headwordscharren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈʃaʁən]
Letters8
Frequency rank#76,122
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “scharren” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). scharren lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

scharren is uncommon German at frequency #76,122 among 107,600 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈʃaʁən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for scharren in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is scharren, spelled S-C-H-A-R-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    (mit den Gliedmaßen) den Erdboden nur an der Oberfläche mit oft wiederholten, schnellen, kratzenden Bewegungen aufwühlen, mit der Schnauze, mit den Pfoten durch Kratzen ein Loch graben oder den Boden aufwühlen
  2. 2
    etwas durch Kratzen mit den Füßen oder einem Gerät (irgendwohin) fortbewegen
  3. 3
    gierig das Geld zusammenkratzen/zusammenraffen
  4. 4
    kratzende Geräusche durch wiederholtes Schleifen über eine Oberfläche mit den Füßen oder Krallen (oder Ähnliches) verursachen, besonders, wenn dadurch ein Missfallen ausgedrückt wird

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

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 "scharren"?
"scharren" is spelled S-C-H-A-R-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃaʁən].
What does "scharren" mean?
As a verb, "scharren" means: (mit den Gliedmaßen) den Erdboden nur an der Oberfläche mit oft wiederholten, schnellen, kratzenden Bewegungen aufwühlen, mit der Schnauze, mit den Pfoten durch Kratzen ein Loch graben oder den Bod...
How do you pronounce "scharren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "scharren" is [ˈʃaʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "scharren" come from?
"scharren" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “scharren”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-A-R-R-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ˈʃaʁən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list