SchaftvsschontTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#17,398
“Schaft” frequency rank
#36,616
“schont” frequency rank
54014
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schaft schont
Definition ein Griff an einer Stange und an anderen länglichen Gegenständen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schonen

Where the eye mixes Schaft and schont

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Schaft
6 ch
schont

Visual trap between Schaft and schont

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schaft is [ʃaft] while schont is [ʃoːnt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schaft is recorded at frequency rank #17,398, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaft]. schont is at rank #36,616, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃoːnt].

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 54014, this pair ranks #1,035,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schaft vs schont

Shared letters: chst. Private to "Schaft": af. Private to "schont": no.

"Schaft" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "schont" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schaftcshaft · scahft · scchaft · schaftt · schatf · schfat · schhaft · shcaft
  • schontcshont · scchont · schhont · schnot · schonnt · schontt · schotn · scohnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schaft" for "schont" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schaft" is a noun and "schont" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Schaft" vs "schont" - which ranks higher?
"Schaft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,398 in our German list, against #36,616 for "schont". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schaft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schont" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,035,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schaft" and "schont" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schont vs schütt". 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 #1,035,448 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