SchöffenvsschuftenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,212
“Schöffen” frequency rank
#32,256
“schuften” frequency rank
76468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schöffen schuften
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Schöffe hart/schwer arbeiten

Where the eye mixes Schöffen and schuften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Schöffen and schuften follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Schöffen
8 ch
schuften

Visual trap between Schöffen and schuften

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schöffen is [ˈʃœfn̩] while schuften is [ˈʃʊftn̩]. 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 76468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schöffen is recorded at frequency rank #44,212, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃœfn̩]. schuften is at rank #32,256, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃʊftn̩].

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 76468, this pair ranks #283,178 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Schöffen vs schuften

Shared letters: cefhns. Private to "Schöffen": ö. Private to "schuften": tu.

"Schöffen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "schuften" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schuften ← cshuften · scchuften · schfuten · schhuften · schufetn · schufften · schuftenn · schuftne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schöffen" and "schuften" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schöffen" is a noun and "schuften" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schöffen" or "schuften" show up more?
"schuften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,256 in our German list, against #44,212 for "Schöffen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schöffen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schuften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,178 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schöffen" and "schuften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schocken vs Schöffen". 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 #283,178 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