EinfällevseinfallenTell them apart

Quick tell: Einfälle is a noun, einfallen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Einfälle” is a noun and “einfallen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,473
“Einfälle” frequency rank
#6,287
“einfallen” frequency rank
43760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Einfälle einfallen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Einfall (unerwünscht oder sogar gewaltsam) eindringen

Where the eye mixes Einfälle and einfallen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Einfälle runs 8 letters (VVCCVCCV) against einfallen's 9 (VVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Einfälle
9 ch
einfallen

Visual trap between Einfälle and einfallen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Einfälle is [ˈaɪ̯nˌfɛlə] while einfallen is [ˈaɪ̯nˌfalən]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Einfälle is recorded at frequency rank #37,473, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nˌfɛlə]. einfallen is at rank #6,287, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nˌfalən].

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 43760, this pair ranks #1,407,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Einfälle vs einfallen

Shared letters: efiln. Private to "Einfälle": ä. Private to "einfallen": a.

"Einfälle" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCCV  ·  "einfallen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • einfallen ← eifnallen · einafllen · einfaleln · einfalen · einfallenn · einfallne · einffallen · einflalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Einfälle" for "einfallen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Einfälle" is a noun and "einfallen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Einfälle" or "einfallen"?
"einfallen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,287 in our German list, against #37,473 for "Einfälle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Einfälle" and "einfallen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Einfälle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einfallen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,407,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Einfälle" and "einfallen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Einfall vs Einfälle". 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 #1,407,825 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