schmerzlich
[ˈʃmɛʁt͡slɪç]
The verdict
“schmerzlich” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #23,302 in German word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #23,302
- frequency rank, German
- 11
- letters
- 19
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - so, dass es seelisch oder psychisch schmerzt
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 | schmerzlich |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ˈʃmɛʁt͡slɪç] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #23,302 |
| Misspellings tracked | 19 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “schmerzlich” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for schmerzlich is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʃmɛʁt͡slɪç]. Corpus data places it at rank #23,302 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "so, dass es seelisch oder psychisch schmerzt".
Our generated misspelling index lists 19 likely wrong-spelling variants for schmerzlich, with forms such as "cshmerzlich", "scchmerzlich", and "schemrzlich". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "schwerlich", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
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 schmerzlich, spelled S-C-H-M-E-R-Z-L-I-C-H.
Definition
- 1so, dass es seelisch oder psychisch schmerzt
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cshmerzlich,scchmerzlich,schemrzlich,schhmerzlich,schmerlzich,schmerrzlich,schmerzilch,schmerzlcih,schmerzlicch,schmerzlichh,schmerzlihc,schmerzllich,schmerzzlich,schmezrlich,schmmerzlich,schmrezlich,scmherzlich,shcmerzlich,sschmerzlich
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schmerzlich - 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 "schmerzlich"?
What does "schmerzlich" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "schmerzlich"?
How do you pronounce "schmerzlich"?
What language does "schmerzlich" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “schmerzlich”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-M-E-R-Z-L-I-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈʃmɛʁt͡slɪç] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “schwerlich” - see the side-by-side comparison. schmerzlich vs schwerlich
- 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.