verschafftevsverschärftenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,465
“verschaffte” frequency rank
#35,522
“verschärften” frequency rank
56987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschaffte verschärften
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschafft Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschärft

Where the eye mixes verschaffte and verschärften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

11 ch
verschaffte
12 ch
verschärften

Visual trap between verschaffte and verschärften

A purely visual mix-up. verschaffte ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftə]) and verschärften ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verschaffte is recorded at frequency rank #21,465, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftə]. verschärften is at rank #35,522, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftn̩].

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 56987, this pair ranks #918,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verschaffte vs verschärften

Shared letters: cefhrstv. Private to "verschaffte": a. Private to "verschärften": .

"verschaffte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCV  ·  "verschärften" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschaffteevrschaffte · vercshaffte · verrschaffte · verscahffte · verscchaffte · verschaffet · verschafftte · verschafte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verschaffte" and "verschärften" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verschaffte" or "verschärften"?
"verschaffte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,465 in our German list, against #35,522 for "verschärften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verschaffte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verschärften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #918,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschaffte" and "verschärften" 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 #918,965 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