dürftvsdurftenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,457
“dürft” frequency rank
#4,603
“durften” frequency rank
15060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dürft durften
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs dürfen

Where the eye mixes dürft and durften

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

5 ch
dürft
7 ch
durften

Visual trap between dürft and durften

A purely visual mix-up. dürft ([dʏʁft]) and durften ([ˈdʊʁftn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dürft is recorded at frequency rank #10,457, classified as averb, pronounced [dʏʁft]. durften is at rank #4,603, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊʁftn̩].

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 15060, this pair ranks #1,946,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dürft vs durften

Shared letters: dfrt. Private to "dürft": ü. Private to "durften": enu.

"dürft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "durften" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durftenddurften · druften · dufrten · durfetn · durfften · durftenn · durftne · durftten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dürft" and "durften" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʏʁft] versus [ˈdʊʁftn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dürft" or "durften"?
"durften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,603 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "dürft" and "durften" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dürft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dürft" and "durften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duran vs dürft". 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 #1,946,691 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