fachenvsFlächeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#29,116
“fachen” frequency rank
#2,292
“Fläche” frequency rank
31408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fachen Fläche
Definition machen, dass es (gut) brennt ein zweidimensionales Gebilde

Where the eye mixes fachen and Fläche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
fachen
6 ch
Fläche

Why the eye confuses fachen with Fläche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fachen is [ˈfaxn̩] while Fläche is [ˈflɛçə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fachen is recorded at frequency rank #29,116, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfaxn̩]. Fläche is at rank #2,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈflɛçə].

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 31408, this pair ranks #1,728,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fachen vs Fläche

Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fachen": an. Private to "Fläche": .

"fachen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Fläche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fachenafchen · facchen · facehn · fachenn · fachhen · fachne · fahcen · fcahen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fachen" for "Fläche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fachen" is a verb and "Fläche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "fachen" or "Fläche" show up more?
"Fläche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,292 in our German list, against #29,116 for "fachen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fachen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fläche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,728,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fachen" and "Fläche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fachen vs Fachs". 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 #1,728,727 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