VerkäufervsverkauftenTell them apart

Quick tell: Verkäufer is a noun, verkauften is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Verkäufer” is a noun and “verkauften” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,438
“Verkäufer” frequency rank
#11,347
“verkauften” frequency rank
16785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Verkäufer verkauften
Definition jemand, der etwas verkauft Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verkauft

Where the eye mixes Verkäufer and verkauften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Verkäufer runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against verkauften's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Verkäufer
10 ch
verkauften

Why the eye confuses Verkäufer with verkauften

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verkäufer is [fɛɐ̯ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ] while verkauften is [fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Verkäufer is recorded at frequency rank #5,438, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkɔɪ̯fɐ]. verkauften is at rank #11,347, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩].

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 16785, this pair ranks #1,933,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Verkäufer vs verkauften

Shared letters: efkruv. Private to "Verkäufer": ä. Private to "verkauften": ant.

"Verkäufer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verkauften" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verkauften ← evrkauften · vekrauften · verakuften · verkafuten · verkaufetn · verkaufften · verkauftenn · verkauftne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Verkäufer" and "verkauften" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verkäufer" is a noun and "verkauften" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Verkäufer" or "verkauften"?
"Verkäufer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,438 in our German list, against #11,347 for "verkauften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Verkäufer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verkauften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,933,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verkäufer" and "verkauften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Verkäufern vs verkauften". 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 #1,933,006 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