verkauftvsverkauftenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“verkauft” and “verkauften” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,143
“verkauft” frequency rank
#11,347
“verkauften” frequency rank
12490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verkauft verkauften
Definition durch Verkauf den Besitzer gewechselt oder an den Kunden beziehungsweise Käufer vergeben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verkauft

Where the eye mixes verkauft and verkauften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verkauft runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against verkauften's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
verkauft
10 ch
verkauften

Why the eye confuses verkauft with verkauften

A purely visual mix-up. verkauft ([fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ft]) and verkauften ([fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩]) 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) - “verkauft” sits inside “verkauften”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verkauft is recorded at frequency rank #1,143, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ft]. 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 12490, this pair ranks #1,963,868 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verkauft vs verkauften

Shared letters: aefkrtuv. Private to "verkauft": -. Private to "verkauften": n.

"verkauft" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "verkauften" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verkauft ← evrkauft · vekrauft · verakuft · verkafut · verkaufft · verkauftt · verkautf · verkkauft
  • verkauften ← evrkauften · vekrauften · verakuften · verkafuten · verkaufetn · verkaufften · verkauftenn · verkauftne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verkauft" for "verkauften" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ft] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈkaʊ̯ftn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verkauft" or "verkauften"?
"verkauft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,143 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "verkauft" and "verkauften" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verkauft" 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 #1,963,868 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verkauft" 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 #1,963,868 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