scharfvsschürtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: scharf is a adjective, schürt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“scharf” is an adjective and “schürt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,070
“scharf” frequency rank
#33,284
“schürt” frequency rank
36354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scharf schürt
Definition fähig, etwas zu (zer)schneiden oder zu stechen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs schüren

Where the eye mixes scharf and schürt

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

6 ch
scharf
6 ch
schürt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scharf is [ʃaʁf] while schürt is [ʃyːɐ̯t]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scharf is recorded at frequency rank #3,070, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃaʁf]. schürt is at rank #33,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃyːɐ̯t].

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 36354, this pair ranks #1,617,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scharf vs schürt

Shared letters: chrs. Private to "scharf": af. Private to "schürt": .

"scharf" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "schürt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scharfcsharf · scahrf · sccharf · schafr · scharff · scharrf · schharf · schraf

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "scharf" and "schürt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scharf" is an adjective and "schürt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "scharf" or "schürt"?
"scharf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,070 in our German list, against #33,284 for "schürt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list