schmal
[ʃmaːl]
The verdict
“schmal” has 10 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #12,375. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,375
- frequency rank, German
- 8,027
- “S” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - wenig breit, keine große Ausdehnung in der Breite aufweisend
Corpus desk
Index DE-schmal · schmal · German
schmal · rank #12,375 · 10 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,375
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 8,027
- PHOTO-FINISH schlauer
Nearest frequency peer: schlauer (-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 “schmal”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Ruinen
Ruinen
87,629 corpus weight
- Scham
Scham
87,628 corpus weight
- schlauer
schlauer
87,627 corpus weight
- schmal
schmal
87,626 corpus weight
- schmutzig
schmutzig
87,625 corpus weight
- schob
schob
87,623 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “schmal” 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 | schmal |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ʃmaːl] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #12,375 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Wo “schmal” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around schmal (IPA [ʃmaːl]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #12,375 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for schmal, with forms such as "cshmal", "scchmal", and "schaml". 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, "schul", "school", "schwul", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is schmal, spelled S-C-H-M-A-L.
Definition
- 1wenig breit, keine große Ausdehnung in der Breite aufweisend
- 2wenig, knapp, unzureichend
- 3im zweiten Lebensjahr seiend
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how schmal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Es ist ein schmaler Grat zwischen Genie und Wahnsinn.
„Die schmale Allee wird nach zwei Kilometern von Stacheldraht und Betonklötzen brutal durchtrennt.“
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cshmal
- scchmal
- schaml
- schhmal
- schmall
- schmla
- schmmal
- scmhal
- shcmal
- sschmal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schmal - 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 "schmal"?
What does "schmal" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "schmal"?
How do you pronounce "schmal"?
What language does "schmal" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "schmal", 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 (10 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "schmal". Here's where to go from here.
- "schmal" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "schul". View pair
- 10 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #12,375 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.