schafftvsSchiffeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: schafft is a verb, Schiffe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“schafft” is a verb and “Schiffe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,708
“schafft” frequency rank
#3,770
“Schiffe” frequency rank
5478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schafft Schiffe
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schaffen flüssiges Ausscheidungsprodukt der Harnblase

Where the eye mixes schafft and Schiffe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
schafft
7 ch
Schiffe

Visual trap between schafft and Schiffe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schafft is [ʃaft] while Schiffe is [ˈʃɪfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schafft is recorded at frequency rank #1,708, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃaft]. Schiffe is at rank #3,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃɪfə].

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 5478, this pair ranks #1,994,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of schafft vs Schiffe

Shared letters: cfhs. Private to "schafft": at. Private to "Schiffe": ei.

"schafft" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCC  ·  "Schiffe" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schafftcshafft · scahfft · scchafft · schafftt · schaftf · schfaft · schhafft · shcafft
  • Schiffecshiffe · scchiffe · schfife · schhiffe · schife · schifef · scihffe · shciffe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schafft" and "Schiffe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schafft" is a verb and "Schiffe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schafft" or "Schiffe"?
"schafft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,708 in our German list, against #3,770 for "Schiffe". 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 "schafft" and "Schiffe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schafft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schiffe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,994,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schafft" and "Schiffe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schiffe vs Schläfe". 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 #1,994,631 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