dürfevsdürftWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,900
“dürfe” frequency rank
#10,457
“dürft” frequency rank
18357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dürfe dürft
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen

Where the eye mixes dürfe and dürft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dürfe
5 ch
dürft

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dürfe ([ˈdʏʁfə]) 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 a single letter - e in “dürfe” becomes t in “dürft”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dürfe is recorded at frequency rank #7,900, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdʏʁfə]. 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 18357, this pair ranks #1,919,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dürfe vs dürft

Shared letters: dfrü. Private to "dürfe": e. Private to "dürft": t.

"dürfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dürft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dürfe" and "dürft" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʏʁfə] versus [dʏʁft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dürfe" or "dürft"?
"dürfe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,900 in our German list, against #10,457 for "dürft". 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