verschafftevsverschifftWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: verschaffte is a adjective, verschifft is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#21,465
“verschaffte” frequency rank
#47,089
“verschifft” frequency rank
68554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschaffte verschifft
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschafft 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verschiffen

Where the eye mixes verschaffte and verschifft

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

11 ch
verschaffte
10 ch
verschifft

Why the eye confuses verschaffte with verschifft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschaffte is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftə] while verschifft is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɪft]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68554, 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]. verschifft is at rank #47,089, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɪft].

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 68554, this pair ranks #504,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verschaffte vs verschifft

Shared letters: cefhrstv. Private to "verschaffte": a. Private to "verschifft": i.

"verschaffte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCV  ·  "verschifft" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschaffteevrschaffte · vercshaffte · verrschaffte · verscahffte · verscchaffte · verschaffet · verschafftte · verschafte
  • verschifftevrschifft · vercshifft · verrschifft · verscchifft · verschfift · verschhifft · verschifftt · verschift

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verschaffte" and "verschifft" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verschaffte" is an adjective and "verschifft" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verschaffte" vs "verschifft" - which ranks higher?
"verschaffte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,465 in our German list, against #47,089 for "verschifft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verschaffte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verschifft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #504,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschaffte" and "verschifft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschaffte vs verschafften". 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 #504,107 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