Which to use
“verschaffen” is a verb and “verschafften” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,782
- “verschaffen” frequency rank
- #47,822
- “verschafften” frequency rank
- 53604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verschaffen | verschafften |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich etwas besorgen; dafür sorgen, dass jemand etwas bekommt | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschafft |
Where the eye mixes verschaffen and verschafften
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. verschaffen runs 11 letters (CVCCCCVCCVC) against verschafften's 12 (CVCCCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: verschaffen vs verschafften
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschaffen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃafn̩] while verschafften is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verschaffen is recorded at frequency rank #5,782, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃafn̩]. verschafften is at rank #47,822, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftn̩].
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 53604, this pair ranks #1,051,488 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verschaffen vs verschafften
Shared letters: acefhnrsv. Private to "verschaffen": -. Private to "verschafften": t.
"verschaffen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVC · "verschafften" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verschaffen ← evrschaffen · vercshaffen · verrschaffen · verscahffen · verscchaffen · verschafefn · verschafen · verschaffenn
- verschafften ← evrschafften · vercshafften · verrschafften · verscahfften · verscchafften · verschaffetn · verschafftenn · verschafftne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verschaffen" for "verschafften" ever safe?
Frequency check: "verschaffen" vs "verschafften" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verschaffen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verschafften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,051,488 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verschaffen" and "verschafften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschafften vs verschärften". 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 #1,051,488 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.