draftvsDuftConfusable pair

Quick tell: draft is a verb, Duft is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“draft” is a verb and “Duft” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,264
“draft” frequency rank
#8,850
“Duft” frequency rank
45114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature draft Duft
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs draften ein angenehmer Geruch, der sich verbreitet oder ausgebracht wird; organische oder chemische Verbindung

Where the eye mixes draft and Duft

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

5 ch
draft
4 ch
Duft

Why the eye confuses draft with Duft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: draft is [dʁaːft] while Duft is [dʊft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

draft is recorded at frequency rank #36,264, classified as averb, pronounced [dʁaːft]. Duft is at rank #8,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʊft].

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 45114, this pair ranks #1,364,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of draft vs Duft

Shared letters: dft. Private to "draft": ar. Private to "Duft": u.

"draft" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Duft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • draftdarft · ddraft · drafft · draftt · dratf · drfat · drraft · rdaft
  • Duftdduft · dfut · dufft · duftt · dutf · udft

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "draft" for "Duft" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "draft" is a verb and "Duft" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "draft" or "Duft"?
"Duft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,850 in our German list, against #36,264 for "draft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "draft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Duft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,364,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "draft" and "Duft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "draft vs draw". 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 #1,364,029 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