dauerhaftvsdauerhaftenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,257
“dauerhaft” frequency rank
#14,537
“dauerhaften” frequency rank
18794
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dauerhaft dauerhaften
Definition lange anhaltend; auf Dauer Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs dauerhaft

Where the eye mixes dauerhaft and dauerhaften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. dauerhaft runs 9 letters (CVVVCCVCC) against dauerhaften's 11 (CVVVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
dauerhaft
11 ch
dauerhaften

Why the eye confuses dauerhaft with dauerhaften

A purely visual mix-up. dauerhaft ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaft]) and dauerhaften ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaftn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “dauerhaft” sits inside “dauerhaften”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dauerhaft is recorded at frequency rank #4,257, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaft]. dauerhaften is at rank #14,537, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaftn̩].

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 18794, this pair ranks #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dauerhaft vs dauerhaften

Shared letters: adefhrtu. Private to "dauerhaft": -. Private to "dauerhaften": n.

"dauerhaft" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCC  ·  "dauerhaften" · 11 letters · shape CVVVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dauerhaft ← aduerhaft · daeurhaft · dauehraft · dauerahft · dauerhafft · dauerhaftt · dauerhatf · dauerhfat
  • dauerhaften ← aduerhaften · daeurhaften · dauehraften · dauerahften · dauerhafetn · dauerhafften · dauerhaftenn · dauerhaftne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dauerhaft" and "dauerhaften" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaft] versus [ˈdaʊ̯ɐhaftn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dauerhaft" vs "dauerhaften" - which ranks higher?
"dauerhaft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,257 in our German list, against #14,537 for "dauerhaften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dauerhaft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dauerhaften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dauerhaft" and "dauerhaften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dauerhaften vs dauerhaftes". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list