Which to use
“Apfel” is a noun and “après” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,628
- “Apfel” frequency rank
- #42,342
- “après” frequency rank
- 48970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Apfel | après |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rundliche Frucht des Apfelbaums mit Schale, Fruchtfleisch und Kerngehäuse | Relation, bei der das mitnach nach |
Where the eye mixes Apfel and après
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Apfel and après follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Apfel vs après
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Apfel is [ˈap͡fl̩] while après is [a.pʁɛ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Apfel is recorded at frequency rank #6,628, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈap͡fl̩]. après is at rank #42,342, tagged as aprep, pronounced [a.pʁɛ].
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 48970, this pair ranks #1,228,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Apfel vs après
Shared letters: ap. Private to "Apfel": efl. Private to "après": rsè.
"Apfel" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "après" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Apfel ← afpel · apefl · apfell · apffel · apfle · appfel · pafel
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Apfel" and "après" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Apfel" vs "après" - which ranks higher?
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 "Apfel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "après" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,228,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Apfel" and "après" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apel vs après". 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 #1,228,809 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.