verschafftvsverschärfteConfusable pair

Quick tell: verschafft is a verb, verschärfte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verschafft” is a verb and “verschärfte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,649
“verschafft” frequency rank
#24,562
“verschärfte” frequency rank
33211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschafft verschärfte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verschaffen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschärft

Where the eye mixes verschafft and verschärfte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
verschafft
11 ch
verschärfte

Why the eye confuses verschafft with verschärfte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschafft is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaft] while verschärfte is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftə]. 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 33211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verschafft is recorded at frequency rank #8,649, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaft]. verschärfte is at rank #24,562, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftə].

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 33211, this pair ranks #1,690,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verschafft vs verschärfte

Shared letters: cefhrstv. Private to "verschafft": a. Private to "verschärfte": ä.

"verschafft" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCC  ·  "verschärfte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschafftevrschafft · vercshafft · verrschafft · verscahfft · verscchafft · verschafftt · verschaft · verschaftf

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verschafft" and "verschärfte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verschafft" is a verb and "verschärfte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verschafft" or "verschärfte"?
"verschafft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,649 in our German list, against #24,562 for "verschärfte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verschafft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verschärfte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,690,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschafft" and "verschärfte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschafften vs verschärfte". 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 #1,690,885 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