schmeicheln
[ˈʃmaɪ̯çl̩n]
The verdict
“schmeicheln” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #48,456 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #48,456
- frequency rank, German
- 11
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - versuchen, jemandem zu gefallen oder jemanden zu beeinflussen, indem man Dinge sagt, die der Andere gern hört, die aber nicht unbedingt der eigenen Meinung entsprechen.
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 | schmeicheln |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈʃmaɪ̯çl̩n] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #48,456 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “schmeicheln” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for schmeicheln is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʃmaɪ̯çl̩n]. Corpus data places it at rank #48,456 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "versuchen, jemandem zu gefallen oder jemanden zu beeinflussen, indem man Dinge sagt, die der Andere gern hört, die aber nicht unbedingt der eigenen Meinung entsprechen.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for schmeicheln, with forms such as "cshmeicheln", "scchmeicheln", and "schemicheln". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "schleichen", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 schmeicheln, spelled S-C-H-M-E-I-C-H-E-L-N.
Definition
- 1versuchen, jemandem zu gefallen oder jemanden zu beeinflussen, indem man Dinge sagt, die der Andere gern hört, die aber nicht unbedingt der eigenen Meinung entsprechen.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cshmeicheln,scchmeicheln,schemicheln,schhmeicheln,schmeciheln,schmeiccheln,schmeicehln,schmeichelln,schmeichelnn,schmeichenl,schmeichheln,schmeichlen,schmeihceln,schmiecheln,schmmeicheln,scmheicheln,shcmeicheln,sschmeicheln
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schmeicheln - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "schmeicheln"?
What does "schmeicheln" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "schmeicheln"?
How do you pronounce "schmeicheln"?
What language does "schmeicheln" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “schmeicheln”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-M-E-I-C-H-E-L-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈʃmaɪ̯çl̩n] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “schleichen” - see the side-by-side comparison. schmeicheln vs schleichen
- 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.