schüchtern

[ˈʃʏçtɐn]

/[ˈʃʏçtɐn]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“schüchtern” has 17 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #10,363. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,363
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
17
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - anderen gegenüber gehemmt

Corpus desk

Index DE-schuchtern · schüchtern · German

schüchtern · rank #10,363 · 17 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,363
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 17 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH schwöre

Nearest frequency peer: schwöre (-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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „schüchtern“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „schüchtern“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

schüchtern vs schultern
70% similar
schüchtern vs schüchterne
91% similar
schüchtern vs Schichten
70% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for schüchtern
PropertyValue
Headwordschüchtern
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˈʃʏçtɐn]
Letters10
Frequency rank#10,363
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „schüchtern“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.schüchternliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „schwöre“ (#10,362), „sechste“ (#10,364), „schriftlichen“ (#10,361). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „schüchtern“ bei #10,363. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 17 spelling variants around schüchtern (IPA [ˈʃʏçtɐn]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #10,363 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "anderen gegenüber gehemmt".

Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for schüchtern, with forms such as "cshüchtern", "scchüchtern", and "schcühtern". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "schultern", "schüchterne", "Schichten", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, 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 schüchtern, spelled S-C-H-Ü-C-H-T-E-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    anderen gegenüber gehemmt

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how schüchtern appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Dreimal hebt das Mädchen zögernd an, und nur schüchtern, aber desto überzeugender kommt über ihre Lippen, was sie sagen will oder sagen muß, bis es am Ende, wenn auch kaum ausgesprochen, doch ganz deutlich geworden ist.“
  2. „Was die Kinder angeht, so sind sie in der fremden Umgebung und infolge der sprachlichen Schwierigkeiten in der Unterhaltung mit den schottischen Damen und Herren zunächst schüchtern.“

Synonyms

scheuzaghaftzurückhaltend

Antonyms

forsch

This word in other languages

shy(English)tímido(Español)timide(Français)tímido(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cshüchtern
  • scchüchtern
  • schcühtern
  • schhüchtern
  • schücchtern
  • schüchetrn
  • schüchhtern
  • schüchtenr
  • schüchternn
  • schüchterrn
  • schüchtren
  • schüchttern
  • schücthern
  • schühctern
  • scühchtern
  • shcüchtern
  • sschüchtern

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schüchtern - 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.

cshüchtern2scchüchtern1schcühtern2schhüchtern1schücchtern1schüchetrn2schüchhtern1schüchtenr2
Edit distance from "schüchtern"

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 "schüchtern"?
"schüchtern" is spelled S-C-H-Ü-C-H-T-E-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃʏçtɐn].
What does "schüchtern" mean?
As an adjective, "schüchtern" means: anderen gegenüber gehemmt
What words are commonly confused with "schüchtern"?
"schüchtern" is commonly confused with "schultern", "schüchterne", "Schichten". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "schüchtern"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "schüchtern" is [ˈʃʏçtɐn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "schüchtern" come from?
"schüchtern" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "schüchtern", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Tagesschau#10,375Qualitäten#10,344veranlasst#10,386verdächtig#10,388

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (17 here; floor ≥5).

Studiengang17 variantsRealisierung17 variantsinhaltliche17 variantshinterlässt17 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list