scherzen
[ˈʃɛʁt͡sn̩]
The verdict
“scherzen” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #33,267 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #33,267
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Späße machen, einen Scherz machen, es nicht ernst meinen
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 | scherzen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈʃɛʁt͡sn̩] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #33,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scherzen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for scherzen is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʃɛʁt͡sn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #33,267 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Späße machen, einen Scherz machen, es nicht ernst meinen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for scherzen, with forms such as "csherzen", "sccherzen", and "scehrzen". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "scheuen", "schüren", "Schürze", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, 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 scherzen, spelled S-C-H-E-R-Z-E-N.
Definition
- 1Späße machen, einen Scherz machen, es nicht ernst meinen
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csherzen,sccherzen,scehrzen,scherezn,scherrzen,scherzenn,scherzne,scherzzen,schezren,schherzen,schrezen,shcerzen,sscherzen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scherzen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "scherzen"?
What does "scherzen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "scherzen"?
How do you pronounce "scherzen"?
What language does "scherzen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “scherzen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-E-R-Z-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈʃɛʁt͡sn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “scheuen” - see the side-by-side comparison. scherzen vs scheuen
- 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.