Which to use
“dürft” is a verb and “dürftig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,457
- “dürft” frequency rank
- #28,613
- “dürftig” frequency rank
- 39070
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dürft | dürftig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen | materielle Armut bezeugend, ärmlich, karg |
Where the eye mixes dürft and dürftig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dürft with dürftig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dürft is [dʏʁft] while dürftig is [ˈdʏʁftɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dürft” sits inside “dürftig”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39070, 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]. dürftig is at rank #28,613, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʏʁftɪç].
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 39070, this pair ranks #1,546,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dürft vs dürftig
Shared letters: dfrtü. Private to "dürft": -. Private to "dürftig": gi.
"dürft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "dürftig" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dürft" for "dürftig" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "dürft" or "dürftig" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dürft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dürftig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,546,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dürft" and "dürftig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dürftig vs durstig". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,546,894 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.