schief
[ʃiːf]
The verdict
“schief” has 8 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #4,302. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,302
- frequency rank, German
- 8,027
- “S” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - weder parallel zur Lotlinie, noch zur Waagerechten; nicht parallel zu einer relevanten Linie oder Ebene
Corpus desk
Index DE-schief · schief · German
schief · rank #4,302 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,302
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 8,027
- PHOTO-FINISH Sack
Nearest frequency peer: Sack (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “schief”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- richtiger
richtiger
95,702 corpus weight
- RTL
RTL
95,701 corpus weight
- Sack
Sack
95,700 corpus weight
- schief
schief
95,699 corpus weight
- Schild
Schild
95,698 corpus weight
- sichere
sichere
95,697 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “schief” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | schief |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ʃiːf] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,302 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “schief” sits in German frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around schief (IPA [ʃiːf]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,302 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for schief, with forms such as "cshief", "scchief", and "scheif". 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, "schuf", "schwer", "Schiff", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is schief, spelled S-C-H-I-E-F.
Definition
- 1weder parallel zur Lotlinie, noch zur Waagerechten; nicht parallel zu einer relevanten Linie oder Ebene
- 2nicht gerade, leicht verwachsen
- 3Argumente/Fakten nur zum Teil berücksichtigend
- 4falsch, einen Ton nicht treffend
- 5unstabil, unhaltbar, gefährdet, suspekt
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how schief appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dieses Bild hängt ja ganz schief!
Anhand der schiefen Ebene behandelt man in der Elementarphysik das Kräfteparallelogramm.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cshief
- scchief
- scheif
- schhief
- schieff
- scihef
- shcief
- sschief
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schief - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "schief"?
What does "schief" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "schief"?
How do you pronounce "schief"?
What language does "schief" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "schief", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "schief". Here's where to go from here.
- "schief" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "schuf". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #4,302 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more German words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.