raffenvsrafftTell them apart

Which to use

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

#44,864
“raffen” frequency rank
#45,532
“rafft” frequency rank
90396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raffen rafft
Definition heftig und begehrlich ergreifen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs raffen

Where the eye mixes raffen and rafft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. raffen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against rafft's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
raffen
5 ch
rafft

Visual trap between raffen and rafft

A purely visual mix-up. raffen ([ˈʁafn̩]) and rafft ([ʁaft]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raffen is recorded at frequency rank #44,864, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁafn̩]. rafft is at rank #45,532, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁaft].

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 90396, this pair ranks #47,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of raffen vs rafft

Shared letters: afr. Private to "raffen": en. Private to "rafft": t.

"raffen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "rafft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raffen ← arffen · rafefn · rafen · raffenn · raffne · rfafen · rraffen
  • rafft ← arfft · rafftt · raft · raftf · rfaft · rrafft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raffen" and "rafft" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁafn̩] versus [ʁaft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "raffen" or "rafft" show up more?
"raffen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,864 in our German list, against #45,532 for "rafft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "raffen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rafft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raffen" and "rafft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raffen vs raunen". 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 #47,450 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