SchaftvsschultWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,398
“Schaft” frequency rank
#33,280
“schult” frequency rank
50678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schaft schult
Definition ein Griff an einer Stange und an anderen länglichen Gegenständen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schulen

Where the eye mixes Schaft and schult

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

6 ch
Schaft
6 ch
schult

Why the eye confuses Schaft with schult

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schaft is [ʃaft] while schult is [ʃuːlt]. 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 50678, 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]. schult is at rank #33,280, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃuːlt].

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 50678, this pair ranks #1,164,656 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schaft vs schult

Shared letters: chst. Private to "Schaft": af. Private to "schult": lu.

"Schaft" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "schult" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schaftcshaft · scahft · scchaft · schaftt · schatf · schfat · schhaft · shcaft
  • schultcshult · scchult · schhult · schlut · schullt · schultt · schutl · scuhlt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Schaft" and "schult" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schaft" is a noun and "schult" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Schaft" or "schult"?
"Schaft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,398 in our German list, against #33,280 for "schult". 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 "Schaft" and "schult" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schaft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,164,656 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schaft" and "schult" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schult vs shut". 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 #1,164,656 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