Which to use
“sur” and “surft” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,401
- “sur” frequency rank
- #49,285
- “surft” frequency rank
- 56686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sur | surft |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs suren | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs surfen |
Where the eye mixes sur and surft
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sur with surft
A purely visual mix-up. sur ([zuːɐ̯]) and surft ([sœːɐ̯ft]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sur” sits inside “surft”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sur is recorded at frequency rank #7,401, classified as averb, pronounced [zuːɐ̯]. surft is at rank #49,285, tagged as averb, pronounced [sœːɐ̯ft].
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 56686, this pair ranks #930,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sur vs surft
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sur": -. Private to "surft": ft.
"sur" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "surft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- surft ← sruft · ssurft · sufrt · surfft · surftt · surrft · surtf · usrft
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sur" for "surft" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sur" or "surft" show up more?
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 "sur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #930,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sur" and "surft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "säuft vs surft". 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 #930,551 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.