AnfällevsanfälligWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Anfälle is a noun, anfällig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Anfälle” is a noun and “anfällig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,919
“Anfälle” frequency rank
#16,901
“anfällig” frequency rank
46820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Anfälle anfällig
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Anfall so, dass eine Person oder eine Sache leicht durch etwas beeinflusst oder auch verlockt werden kann

Where the eye mixes Anfälle and anfällig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Anfälle runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against anfällig's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Anfälle
8 ch
anfällig

Why the eye confuses Anfälle with anfällig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Anfälle is [ˈanˌfɛlə] while anfällig is [ˈanfɛlɪç]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Anfälle is recorded at frequency rank #29,919, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈanˌfɛlə]. anfällig is at rank #16,901, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanfɛlɪç].

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 46820, this pair ranks #1,305,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Anfälle vs anfällig

Shared letters: aflnä. Private to "Anfälle": e. Private to "anfällig": gi.

"Anfälle" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "anfällig" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Anfälle" and "anfällig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Anfälle" is a noun and "anfällig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Anfälle" or "anfällig" show up more?
"anfällig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,901 in our German list, against #29,919 for "Anfälle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Anfälle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anfällig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,305,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Anfälle" and "anfällig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anale vs Anfälle". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,305,834 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