geschafftvsgeschautTell them apart

Quick tell: geschafft is a adjective, geschaut is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geschafft” is an adjective and “geschaut” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,324
“geschafft” frequency rank
#5,370
“geschaut” frequency rank
6694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geschafft geschaut
Definition nach einer Anstrengung erschöpft, kraftlos Partizip Perfekt des Verbs schauen

Where the eye mixes geschafft and geschaut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. geschafft runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCCC) against geschaut's 8 (CVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
geschafft
8 ch
geschaut

Why the eye confuses geschafft with geschaut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geschafft is [ɡəˈʃaft] while geschaut is [ɡəˈʃaʊ̯t]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geschafft is recorded at frequency rank #1,324, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃaft]. geschaut is at rank #5,370, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃaʊ̯t].

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 6694, this pair ranks #1,990,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geschafft vs geschaut

Shared letters: aceghst. Private to "geschafft": f. Private to "geschaut": u.

"geschafft" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCC  ·  "geschaut" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geschafft ← egschafft · gecshafft · gescahfft · gescchafft · geschafftt · geschaft · geschaftf · geschfaft
  • geschaut ← egschaut · gecshaut · gescahut · gescchaut · geschatu · geschautt · geschhaut · geschuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geschafft" for "geschaut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geschafft" is an adjective and "geschaut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "geschafft" vs "geschaut" - which ranks higher?
"geschafft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,324 in our German list, against #5,370 for "geschaut". 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 "geschafft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geschaut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,990,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geschafft" and "geschaut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geschaut vs Geschwür". 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 #1,990,749 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