Deutsch homophones

Schafen/schaffen

"Schafen" is a noun; "schaffen" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #38 of 483 German groups.

Data vintage

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "Schafen" arrives as a noun, while "schaffen" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • Shared stem "schaf" then splits - "Schafen" (7 letters) vs "schaffen" (8).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across Schafen, schaffen: acefhns. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • Schafen

    7 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCCVCVC

    Inventory acefhns · no private letters vs siblings

  • schaffen

    8 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCCVCCVC

    Inventory acefhns · no private letters vs siblings

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "Schafen" when you mean: Dativ Plural des Substantivs Schaf
  • Write "schaffen" when you mean: etwas künstlerisch oder handwerklich erzeugen

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • Schafencshafen · scahfen · scchafen · schaefn · schafenn · schafne
  • schaffencshaffen · scahffen · scchaffen · schafefn · schaffenn · schaffne

Each spelling

Schafen

noun · /ˈʃaːfn̩/ · #23,296 frequency

Dativ Plural des Substantivs Schaf

schaffen

verb · /ˈʃafn̩/ · #691 frequency

etwas künstlerisch oder handwerklich erzeugen

Nearby German homophone groups

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list