offvsöffneConfusable pair

Quick tell: off is a abbrev, öffne is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“off” is an abbrev and “öffne” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,224
“off” frequency rank
#13,081
“öffne” frequency rank
17305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature off öffne
Definition offline 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs öffnen

Letter map: off vs öffne

Shared letters muted; letters that set off and öffne apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. off runs 3 letters (VCC) against öffne's 5 (VCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
off
5 ch
öffne

Grammar separator: off vs öffne

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: off is anabbrev and öffneaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

off is recorded at frequency rank #4,224, classified as anabbrev. öffne is at rank #13,081, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈœfnə].

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 17305, this pair ranks #1,928,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of off vs öffne

Shared letters: f. Private to "off": o. Private to "öffne": enö.

"off" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "öffne" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "off" for "öffne" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "off" is an abbrev and "öffne" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "off" or "öffne"?
"off" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,224 in our German list, against #13,081 for "öffne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "off" and "öffne".

  • Full dictionary entry for "off" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "öffne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,928,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "off" and "öffne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "öffne vs ordne". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,928,548 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