Which to use
“verschafften” and “verschärfte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,822
- “verschafften” frequency rank
- #24,562
- “verschärfte” frequency rank
- 72384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verschafften | verschärfte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschafft | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschärft |
Where the eye mixes verschafften and verschärfte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses verschafften with verschärfte
A purely visual mix-up. verschafften ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftn̩]) and verschärfte ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛʁftə]) 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 72384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verschafften is recorded at frequency rank #47,822, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃaftn̩]. 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 72384, this pair ranks #389,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of verschafften vs verschärfte
Shared letters: cefhrstv. Private to "verschafften": an. Private to "verschärfte": ä.
"verschafften" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCVC · "verschärfte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- verschafften ← evrschafften · vercshafften · verrschafften · verscahfften · verscchafften · verschaffetn · verschafftenn · verschafftne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verschafften" and "verschärfte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verschafften" or "verschärfte" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verschafften" 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 #389,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verschafften" and "verschärfte" 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 #389,888 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.