schaffen
[ˈʃafn̩]
The verdict
“schaffen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #691 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #691
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - etwas künstlerisch oder handwerklich erzeugen
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | schaffen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈʃafn̩] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #691 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “schaffen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for schaffen is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʃafn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #691 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "etwas künstlerisch oder handwerklich erzeugen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for schaffen, with forms such as "cshaffen", "scahffen", and "scchaffen". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "schauen", "schafft", "Schiffe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is schaffen, spelled S-C-H-A-F-F-E-N.
Definition
- 1etwas künstlerisch oder handwerklich erzeugen
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cshaffen,scahffen,scchaffen,schafefn,schaffenn,schaffne,schfafen,schhaffen,shcaffen,sschaffen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of schaffen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "schaffen"?
What does "schaffen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "schaffen"?
How do you pronounce "schaffen"?
What language does "schaffen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “schaffen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is S-C-H-A-F-F-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈʃafn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “schauen” - see the side-by-side comparison. schaffen vs schauen
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.