durchschauenvsdurchschautWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,306
“durchschauen” frequency rank
#20,892
“durchschaut” frequency rank
43198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durchschauen durchschaut
Definition den wahren Kern einer Sache, einer Person erkennen; die verborgenen Ziele einer Person erfassen Partizip Perfekt des untrennbaren Verbs durchschauen

Where the eye mixes durchschauen and durchschaut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

12 ch
durchschauen
11 ch
durchschaut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. durchschauen ([ˌdʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯ən]) and durchschaut ([dʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯t]) 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 43198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durchschauen is recorded at frequency rank #22,306, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌdʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯ən]. durchschaut is at rank #20,892, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯t].

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 43198, this pair ranks #1,425,617 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of durchschauen vs durchschaut

Shared letters: acdhrsu. Private to "durchschauen": en. Private to "durchschaut": t.

"durchschauen" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCCCVVVC  ·  "durchschaut" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durchschauenddurchschauen · druchschauen · ducrhschauen · durcchschauen · durchcshauen · durchhschauen · durchscahuen · durchscchauen
  • durchschautddurchschaut · druchschaut · ducrhschaut · durcchschaut · durchcshaut · durchhschaut · durchscahut · durchscchaut

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "durchschauen" and "durchschaut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌdʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯ən] versus [dʊʁçˈʃaʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "durchschauen" or "durchschaut"?
"durchschaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,892 in our German list, against #22,306 for "durchschauen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list