darfvsdürftWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“darf” and “dürft” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#293
“darf” frequency rank
#10,457
“dürft” frequency rank
10750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature darf dürft
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen

Where the eye mixes darf and dürft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
darf
5 ch
dürft

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. darf ([daʁf]) and dürft ([dʏʁft]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

darf is recorded at frequency rank #293, classified as averb, pronounced [daʁf]. dürft is at rank #10,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʏʁft].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 10750, this pair ranks #1,973,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of darf vs dürft

Shared letters: dfr. Private to "darf": a. Private to "dürft": .

"darf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dürft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • darfadrf · dafr · darff · darrf · ddarf · draf

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "darf" and "dürft" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([daʁf] versus [dʏʁft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "darf" or "dürft"?
"darf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #293 in our German list, against #10,457 for "dürft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list